The TD4 company tax return: deadlines, penalties, and what your accountant actually files

The TD4 is your company’s corporate income tax return — the form where a year of bookkeeping, audit adjustments and tax computations finally becomes a number the Cyprus Tax Department can assess. For most founders it’s also the most opaque item on the annual invoice: it happens more than a year after the fact, it’s built from documents you may never have opened, and the deadline seems to move.

The deadline does move — there’s a standard rule, a string of official extensions, and a new regime arriving with the 2026 tax reform. This guide untangles all three, plus what’s actually inside the return and what late filing costs.

What the TD4 actually contains

The TD4 starts from your accounting profit and walks it to taxable profit: adding back non-deductible expenses (client entertainment above the limits, private-use costs, unrealised losses), subtracting exemptions and allowances (dividend income, notional interest deduction on new equity, IP box relief), applying loss relief from earlier years — and computing tax at the corporate rate. It also carries disclosure schedules, including the Summary Information Table for related-party transactions.

The critical dependency: the return must be based on audited (or reviewed) financial statements. That’s why TD4 timelines are really audit timelines — a company whose books reach the auditor in October will not be filing anything in November. When your provider chases you in spring for “missing invoices from last year,” this chain is why.

The deadline, in three layers

Layer 1 — the standard rule (through tax year 2025). The electronic TD4 is due by 31 March of the second year following the tax year. The 2025 return is therefore due 31 March 2027. Separately, the final tax balance for a year is settled earlier, by self-assessment on 1 August of the following year — so tax for 2025 is payable by 1 August 2026, months before the 2025 return itself is due.

Layer 2 — the extensions. Cyprus routinely extends TD4 deadlines by decree. The current one that matters: the 2024 return has been extended to 30 November 2026 (from 31 March 2026), together with the accompanying Summary Information Table.

Layer 3 — the new regime. The tax reform enacted in December 2025 moves both dates together: from tax year 2026, the TD4 and the final tax payment are both due by 31 January of the second following year. The 2026 return and the 2026 balancing payment are due 31 January 2028 — one deadline instead of two, thirteen months after year-end.

What late filing and late payment cost

• Late return: an administrative fine of €100 (or €200 in certain cases, such as failure to respond to a Tax Department request).
• Late payment: a 5% penalty on the unpaid tax, plus an additional 5% if it’s still unpaid two months after the deadline.
• Interest: at the official rate — 3.5% a year for 2026 (down from 5.5% in 2025), counted per completed month.
• The knock-on: a late TD4 usually means a late Summary Information Table too — that’s a separate €500 penalty — and unfiled returns block tax clearance certificates when you eventually need one.

How it’s filed in 2026

Despite the Tax For All migration, corporate returns are still filed through TAXISnet, with payments made via the government Tax Portal (using a payment reference number) or JCCsmart. The Tax Department has said direct taxes move to TFA in 2027 — until then, your company lives in both systems: VAT on TFA, income tax on TAXISnet.

And the 15% rate: tax year 2026 is the first year at the new 15% corporate income tax rate (up from 12.5%). Your 2026 provisional tax estimates should already be computed at 15% — if your provider’s July instalment still assumes 12.5%, that’s worth a question.