Guides & FAQ

A private company's annual accounts are due 9 months after its accounting reference date (the financial year end). A company's very first accounts are different: they are due 21 months after incorporation if the first financial year is longer than 12 months. Miss the date and a penalty applies automatically.

Every company, including dormant ones, must file a confirmation statement at least once every 12 months, and has 14 days after the end of the review period to file it. It confirms the register data is correct and is separate from the annual accounts.

Full guide: The confirmation statement: deadline, £50 fee, and what overdue really means

A private company's late-filing penalty starts at £150 (up to 1 month late) and rises to £375 (1–3 months), £750 (3–6 months) and £1,500 (over 6 months). The penalty doubles if your accounts are late in two successive financial years, and it applies automatically — 'I forgot' is not accepted as an excuse.

Full guide: Companies House late filing penalties: £150 to £1,500, automatically

Yes. Persistent failure to file accounts or confirmation statements can lead the registrar to strike the company off, and its assets then pass to the Crown. Filing on time is what keeps a dormant company alive.

Full guide: What is a dormant company?

Yes — until 1 April 2028, dormant and micro-entity accounts can be filed free through Companies House WebFiling. From that date the web and paper routes close for accounts and commercial software becomes the only way to file. The free HMRC route for Company Tax Returns closed earlier, on 31 March 2026.

Full guide: Companies House software-only filing from 1 April 2028

From 1 April 2028, all accounts must be filed by commercial software in iXBRL format — Companies House closes its web and paper accounts routes (announced 9 June 2026, delayed from the original April 2027 date). In the same package, micro-entities and small companies must file a profit and loss account, and abridged accounts are abolished.

Full guide: Companies House software-only filing from 1 April 2028

From 1 April 2028 micro-entities must deliver a profit and loss account to Companies House. The government has announced an option not to publish it on the public register, but the regulations creating that option have not been made yet — so treat non-publication as unconfirmed until they are.

Full guide: Companies House software-only filing from 1 April 2028

Yes. A dormant company must file annual accounts and a confirmation statement every year, on the same deadlines as an active company. Dormancy changes what the accounts contain (a simple balance sheet, no profit and loss), not whether they are due.

Full guide: How to file dormant company accounts

A company is dormant for Companies House if it has no 'significant accounting transactions' during the period — and the list of ignored transactions is short: subscriber shares on formation, registrar fees for a change of name, re-registration or a confirmation statement, and a late-filing penalty. Anything else — a bank charge, an accountancy fee, an insurance premium — breaks dormancy.

Full guide: What is a dormant company?

No — the two tests are different and a company can be dormant for one but not the other. HMRC looks at activity and income (trading, providing services, earning interest, managing investments); Companies House looks at recorded transactions. A company that pays its own bank charges but earns nothing is dormant for HMRC yet not dormant for Companies House.

Full guide: Dormant for Companies House vs dormant for HMRC

If HMRC has sent a notice to deliver a Company Tax Return, the return must be filed for that period even if the company was dormant throughout — there is no legal mechanism for HMRC to withdraw a notice once served. Telling HMRC the company is dormant stops future notices being issued, so do it promptly; it just does not cancel one you already have.

Full guide: Dormant for Companies House vs dormant for HMRC

AA02 is the paper template for dormant company accounts, and it is narrower than most people expect: only for a company limited by shares that has never traded, whose only transaction is the subscriber shares, and which is not a subsidiary. A company that traded and later became dormant cannot use it — it files dormant accounts through the online or software route instead.

Full guide: Form AA02: the dormant accounts paper form, and when not to use it

For financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2025, a company qualifies as a micro-entity if it meets two of three conditions: turnover not more than £1 million, balance sheet total (gross assets) not more than £500,000, and not more than 10 employees on average. For years that began earlier, the old limits of £632,000 and £316,000 apply.

Full guide: Micro-entity accounts: who qualifies, what you file, and what 2028 changes

Micro-entity accounts filed at Companies House today are a balance sheet with two short notes at its foot (financial commitments and guarantees; directors' advances) — no directors' report is required at all, and the profit and loss account is not filed publicly until the April 2028 changes take effect. The full accounts, including the profit and loss, still go to the members and to HMRC.

Full guide: Micro-entity accounts: who qualifies, what you file, and what 2028 changes

It is the 6-character code Companies House issues for electronic filing, and it acts as the legal signature on anything filed for the company. Companies House advises treating it like a bank card PIN and sharing it only with someone you trust to file for the company — filing software needs it to submit your accounts.

Full guide: How to get your Companies House authentication code

Yes — filing your own accounts is legal and, for a dormant company, genuinely simple: the accounts are effectively one page. There is no requirement to use an accountant for dormant or micro-entity accounts; you need the company's authentication code and, from April 2028, filing software.

Yes — under ECCTA, new directors must verify their identity from 18 November 2025, and existing directors confirm verification with their next confirmation statement during a 12-month transition ending in mid-November 2026. It is a Companies House process and separate from your filing deadlines.

Full guide: The Companies House personal code: who needs one and when

PromptFiling watches your company's statutory deadlines — accounts and confirmation statement — and reminds you free of charge at the 90-, 30- and 7-day marks (you join wherever the clock stands) and urgently at the end — for every company you watch. Its paid filing is for a private company limited by shares that has never traded — its first accounts or any later year: it reads the register to rule out companies it cannot serve (a plc, a guarantee company, a CIC, a company that traded), takes last year's figures from the accounts Companies House published (or asks the director when they were filed on paper), asks the director four questions, shows a plain-English summary of every figure and statement it will file, and files only after the director approves.

No. PromptFiling is an independent tool. It reads public register data through the official Companies House API and files through the official software-filing channel, but it is not a government service and does not pretend to be one.

The Companies House fee is £50 for filing online and £110 on paper, paid once per 12-month payment period — additional statements inside the same period are free. The fee is the same for dormant and active companies.

Full guide: The confirmation statement: deadline, £50 fee, and what overdue really means

Yes, though it works differently from accounts. A late confirmation statement is an offence by the company and its directors: Companies House can fine the company up to £5,000 and strike it off the register. Unlike accounts, there is no fixed ladder that starts the day after the deadline (accounts penalties start at £150 for a private company) — so the consequence is less predictable, not smaller.

Full guide: The confirmation statement: deadline, £50 fee, and what overdue really means

Yes, but only BEFORE the deadline passes: you apply online to Companies House, you need an exceptional reason outside your control (serious illness, fire, flood — not workload or an unavailable accountant), and an extension cannot normally take the total filing period beyond 12 months. Once the deadline has passed, no extension is possible and the penalty applies automatically.

Full guide: Extending your accounts filing deadline: before, not after

You can appeal, but Companies House only allows appeals for exceptional circumstances — an unforeseen event outside your control, evidenced. 'My accountant let me down', 'I did not know the deadline' and 'the company is dormant' are all listed as reasons that do NOT succeed. Paying promptly (online, by card or bank transfer) avoids escalation to debt collection while an appeal is considered.

Full guide: Companies House late filing penalties: £150 to £1,500, automatically

It is an 11-character code a PERSON receives after verifying their identity with Companies House (via GOV.UK One Login or an authorised agent), used to connect their verified identity to their roles as director or PSC. It belongs to the person for life and is different from the 6-character company authentication code, which belongs to the company and signs filings.

Full guide: The Companies House personal code: who needs one and when

It is the amount shareholders owe the company for their shares — typically £1 for a single subscriber share taken on incorporation and never paid for. On a never-traded dormant company's balance sheet it is usually the ONLY asset line, and it equals the share capital figure on the other side, so the accounts balance at £1 each way.

Full guide: How to file dormant company accounts

Deadline watching and reminders are free, forever. A dormant accounts filing — prepared by us, approved by the director, then submitted through our direct Companies House connection and chased until accepted — is a one-off £19.99, with nothing recurring. For comparison, the late-filing penalty for a private company starts at £150.