Blog · Semar Consultora

Accounting and financial year-end close: calendar and checklist

Published on 26 August 2026 · By the Semar Consultora team

The accounting and financial year-end close is the process of balancing the books as at 31 December, calculating the actual result for the year and preparing everything that must be filed subsequently: annual accounts, Corporation Tax and the legalisation of books. It begins in November, not in March, because up until 31 December decisions can still be taken that alter the tax outcome. After that, one can only declare what has happened.

Closing calendar, deadline by deadline

For a company with a natural financial year (from 1 January to 31 December), these are the deadlines and their source:

Procedure	Legal deadline	Deadline date	Regulation
Formulate the annual accounts	3 months from the close	31 March	Art. 253 LSC
Legalise the accounting books	4 months from the close	30 April	Art. 27 C. de Comercio
Approve the accounts in general meeting	First 6 months of the financial year	30 June	Art. 164 LSC
File Corporation Tax	25 natural days following the 6 months from the close	25 July	Art. 124 LIS
Deposit the accounts with the Companies Registry	1 month from approval	30 July	Art. 279 LSC

If your financial year does not coincide with the natural year, the periods are counted in the same way but shifted from your closing date. And the order matters: Corporation Tax cannot be filed with accounts that have not been formulated, nor can accounts be deposited that the general meeting has not approved.

What to do before 31 December

This is the only part of the close where decisions can still be made. From 1 January, the result is already fixed and the work is solely one of calculation and filing.

• Review the forecast result with data up to November and estimate the liability that will arise. Without that figure, any subsequent decision is blind.
• Advance or delay investments as suits the financial year. Purchasing in December or January changes the year in which it is depreciated.
• Review amortisations of fixed assets and verify that the correct coefficients are being applied.
• Write off uncollectable balances: receivables over six months old from maturity may be impaired, subject to requirements that should be checked on a case-by-case basis.
• Balance the inventory with a real physical count, not with what the programme says.
• Check the account with shareholders and directors. Debit balances without a contract or market interest are among the adjustments that cause most issues in an inspection.
• Verify that deductible expenses are documented with a full invoice, not with a till receipt.
• Review the negative taxable bases pending offset from previous years.

The accounting close, step by step

Once in January, the work is pure accounting and always follows the same path:

• Record pending transactions for the year and invoices that arrive late.
• Accrue income and expenses that correspond to a year different from that in which they are paid.
• Provide for amortisations, impairments and provisions.
• Adjust inventories against the final inventory count.
• Reconcile banks, customers, suppliers and accounts with the Tax Authority.
• Calculate Corporation Tax and record it.
• Obtain the definitive trial balance and close the income statement accounts.
• Formulate the annual accounts and the proposal for the application of the result.

Self-employed individuals also close the financial year

Without annual accounts or the Companies Registry, but with the same background work. A self-employed individual under the direct assessment method must balance their income, expenditure and investment asset books, verify that they have correctly applied the deductible expenses and review the forecast of net returns declared to Social Security, because this is where the adjustment of their self-employed contributions comes from.

December is also the last moment to decide on contributions to pension plans, and to assess whether it is advisable to bring forward expenditure to the financial year ending.

What happens if you miss the deadlines

Failing to deposit the accounts with the Companies Registry has two specific consequences. The first is registry closure: after one year has elapsed from the end of the financial year without depositing, the registry will not register almost any company documents, so any change of administrator, registered office or share capital is blocked. The second is the economic sanctions that may be imposed by the regime of the Capital Companies Act, graded according to the size of the company.

Filing Corporation Tax late entails a surcharge, and if payment is due, interest. When the delay is detected by the Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria) before you detect it, it ceases to be a surcharge and becomes a sanction.

Frequently asked questions

When does the year-end closing begin?

The useful work begins in November, with an estimate of the year's result. In January, you can only record what has occurred: all decisions that reduce the tax bill must be taken before 31 December.

What is the deadline for filing Corporation Tax?

25 July for companies with a natural financial year. Article 124 of the Corporation Tax Act allows 25 natural days from the 6 months following the end of the tax period.

What happens if I do not deposit the annual accounts?

One year after the end of the financial year, registry closure occurs: the Companies Registry ceases to register most of the company's documents. Furthermore, economic sanctions graded according to the size of the company may be imposed.

Can a company change its financial year-end date?

Yes, by modifying the bylaws by agreement of the general meeting and raising this to a public deed to register it with the Companies Registry. All deadlines begin to be counted from the new closing date.

Can the company carry out the closing itself?

It can, if it has an accounting department with the criterion for closing adjustments. What rarely works well is doing it in January whilst running the business, because the room for fiscal manoeuvre has already been lost.

We plan your closing from November

At Semar we have been closing financial years for companies and self-employed individuals in the Bages region since 1986. We work with a result forecast in November, decide with you what needs to be decided before the end of the year, and in January we execute the closing without surprises. We also handle the legalisation of books, the deposit of accounts with the Companies Registry and Corporation Tax.

If this year you want to reach December knowing what you are going to pay, write to us via contact or call us on 938 720 777. You can also view our tax and accounting area.