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

The penalty table

For a private company, accounts filed late cost £150 up to 1 month late, £375 between 1 and 3 months, £750 between 3 and 6 months, and £1,500 past 6 months. Public companies pay £750, £1,500, £3,000 and £7,500 on the same bands. The penalty is issued automatically — no discretion, no warning letter first — and lateness is measured to the day Companies House RECEIVES accounts it can accept, not the day you sent them.

The doubling rule

If your accounts were also late in the previous financial year, the penalty doubles. A company that misses two years running is looking at £300 rather than £150 even if both filings were only days late — and £3,000 if the second one drifts past six months. The rule catches exactly the companies that treat a small penalty as tolerable: it stops being small the second time.

Rejected accounts do not stop the clock

A filing that reaches Companies House before the deadline but gets rejected — wrong balance sheet statements, missing signature, a name that does not match the register — counts for nothing. If the corrected version arrives after the deadline, the penalty applies as if you had never filed. This is why filing at the last minute is a gamble even when the accounts are 'done': rejection turnaround eats the margin. Filing a week early costs nothing; a rejection on deadline day costs at least £150.

Appeals: what works and what does not

Appeals succeed only for exceptional circumstances outside your control, with evidence — a fire, a flood, a serious illness at the critical time. Companies House publishes the reasons that do NOT work, and they are the common ones: your accountant let you down, you did not know the deadline, the company is dormant, the post was slow, you could not afford to file. Paying online promptly is sensible even while appealing; unpaid penalties go to debt collection.

Dormant companies pay the same table

Dormancy does not reduce the penalty by a penny — a dormant company one day late owes the same £150 as a trading one. Set against that, a prepared dormant filing costs £19.99, one-off — a fraction of the smallest penalty. The economics of 'I'll deal with it later' are worse than they look, because later has bands.

Already late? The bands reward speed

If the deadline has passed, the penalty is already owed — but which penalty is still open. Filing today at £375 beats filing in six weeks at £750. Check where your company stands (the register shows your due date and how far past it you are), file the accounts, then deal with the penalty notice when it arrives rather than waiting for it.

Official sources

• Companies House guidance — Late filing penalties
• GOV.UK — Penalties for late filing
• GOV.UK — Appeal a late filing penalty

Sources checked 28 August 2026.