Filing company accounts: what goes where, and by when

After the end of its financial year, a private limited company must prepare full (statutory) annual accounts and a Company Tax Return. The accounts are needed for the deadlines at Companies House and at HMRC, and they can also be used to work out how much Corporation Tax to pay.

• Members

  A company that is small or a micro-entity must still send its statutory accounts to its members, as well as to HMRC.

• Companies House

  Every company files annual accounts with Companies House, even a dormant one. The directors must approve the accounts before they are filed.

• HMRC

  The accounts go in with the Company Tax Return as iXBRL, alongside the computations. A company can file with Companies House and HMRC together or separately.

• First accounts

  21 months after the date the company registered with Companies House.

• Later accounts

  9 months after the company's financial year ends.

• Corporation Tax

  9 months and 1 day after the accounting period for Corporation Tax ends, or tell HMRC that none is owed.

• Company Tax Return

  12 months after the accounting period for Corporation Tax ends.

The accounts and the tax payment fall due about nine months after the year end, and the return three months after that. There are penalties for filing late with Companies House and with HMRC. The filing deadlines page says how each date is worked out, and the first accounts guide explains why the first set is different.

A company that is dormant, small or a micro-entity may be able to send simpler accounts to Companies House and not need an audit. Dormant companies that qualify as small do not need to be audited either.

The smallest kind is the micro-entity: the micro-entity guide has the test and what such a company can leave out. Companies House calls a company dormant if it had no significant transactions in the financial year, which is a different test from being dormant for Corporation Tax.

• Software: Companies House takes accounts from commercial software, which sends them through its XML gateway. They are received as iXBRL, a standard that combines HTML with machine-readable tags.
• WebFiling: for now, a micro-entity can also file on Companies House's own website. It needs a Companies House account, the company authentication code and, since 13 October 2025, a connection to GOV.UK One Login.
• Paper: for now, accounts can also be posted to Companies House.
• HMRC's service: HMRC's online service for the accounts and the Company Tax Return closed on 31 March 2026.

A professional, such as an accountant, can file for the company, but the company stays legally responsible for what is filed.

From 1 April 2028 every company must file its accounts with Companies House as iXBRL using commercial software. That applies whether the company files for itself or uses an accountant. Companies House's web and paper services close for accounts on that date, with no transition period, and that includes revised accounts. Other filings, such as the confirmation statement, stay on its web services.

On 23 October 2026 the government paused the plan to require small companies and micro-entities to file a profit and loss account with Companies House from April 2028. Companies may keep filing abridged accounts, and smaller companies keep the option to leave their profit and loss information out of the accounts they file.

Not all software supports the iXBRL tagging that digital accounts need, so a company that already uses software should ask its provider whether it will support the new requirements.

This service prepares micro-entity (FRS 105) accounts in iXBRL for a UK limited company that lets property, from the same books that give the Corporation Tax figures. Whether the company qualifies as a micro-entity is for its directors to confirm, and the software lists any problems it finds, such as figures above the limits.

This service does not file anything. An owner approves the filing pack, and you, or your accountant, file the accounts and the return, with a step-by-step guide to follow. The filing by hand page has the detail.

The directors must still approve the accounts before they are filed. Approving a filing pack in the software is a step in this service, and it does not replace that approval.

A qualified accountant has not reviewed the calculations. Treat the output as a working draft for you or your accountant to check.