Micro-entity accounts: who qualifies and what changes

Micro-entities are very small companies. A company is a micro-entity if it has any two of these three things:

• a turnover of £1 million or less
• £500,000 or less on its balance sheet
• 10 employees or less

These figures are for accounting periods that start on or after 6 April 2025. For an earlier period, check the figures that applied then.

After its first financial year, a company that meets or stops meeting these conditions only changes its status if that happens in two consecutive financial years (Companies Act 2006, section 384A). Whether the company qualifies is for its directors to confirm, year by year.

• Prepare simpler accounts that meet the statutory minimum requirements.
• Send only its balance sheet, with less information, to Companies House.
• Benefit from the same exemptions as a small company, which can include not needing an audit.

On 23 October 2026 the government paused the plan to require 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 after 1 April 2028.

• The company still prepares statutory accounts, and its directors must approve them before they are filed.
• A small company or micro-entity must still send its statutory accounts to its members and to HMRC, as part of the Company Tax Return.
• Accounts are due at Companies House nine months after the financial year ends, and the first accounts 21 months after the company registered. There are penalties for filing late.
• A confirmation statement is still needed every year. The confirmation statement guide has the dates.
• From 1 April 2028 accounts have to be filed as iXBRL with commercial software, whatever the size of the company.

This service prepares micro-entity (FRS 105) accounts, as iXBRL, for a UK limited company that lets property: the balance sheet, the profit and loss account, the statements the directors make and the notes a micro-entity gives. It lists the problems it finds, such as figures above the limits, and leaves the decision on whether the company qualifies to its directors. It does not check the two-year rule.

It asks the owner to record a decision on depreciating the buildings, because the accounts carry the property at cost less depreciation. The filing pack is held back until it is recorded. When a director owed the company money during the year, the notes include the advances and credits to directors that the law asks for.

The guide to buy-to-let company accounts shows the rest of what such a company files each year.

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