How to file company accounts with Companies House

Company accounts, called statutory accounts, are prepared from your financial records at the end of the financial year and must include a balance sheet, a profit and loss account and notes. Unless you are a micro-entity, they also need a director’s report.

• Balance sheet: the value of everything the company owns, owes and is owed on the last day of the financial year.
• Profit and loss account: sales, running costs and the profit or loss over the year.
• Notes: the explanations that sit behind the figures.
• Director’s report: required unless you are a micro-entity.

The balance sheet must have a director’s name printed on it and be signed by a director. Depending on your size you may also need an auditor’s report. The accounts must meet either International Financial Reporting Standards or UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, and GOV.UK suggests asking an accountant or tax adviser about which applies.

If you are new to the documents, our guides to the balance sheet and the profit and loss account explain what each one shows.

You must send copies of the statutory accounts to all shareholders, to anyone who can attend the company’s general meetings, to Companies House and to HMRC. HMRC receives them as part of your Company Tax Return.

That means the accounts do two jobs. The Companies House copy goes on the public register. The HMRC copy is used to work out how much Corporation Tax you pay. You can file with Companies House and HMRC together or separately, but the deadlines are different.

A private limited company must file annual accounts with Companies House 9 months after its financial year ends, and its first accounts 21 months after the date it registered. The tax deadlines are different, so keep both in view.

The Corporation Tax accounting period is the time covered by your Company Tax Return and is normally the same 12 months as the financial year in your accounts. For the tax side, see our guide on how to pay Corporation Tax.

You prepare the accounts, get the directors to approve them, then send them to Companies House with your password and authentication code. Today that can be done on the Companies House online service or with commercial software.

1. Close the books for the financial year and prepare the statutory accounts from your records.
2. Have the directors approve them, with a director signing the balance sheet.
3. Send copies to your shareholders and to anyone entitled to attend general meetings.
4. Sign in to the Companies House filing service with your company’s password and authentication code, or file through your accounting software.
5. File your Company Tax Return and pay any Corporation Tax to HMRC by their own deadlines.
6. Check that Companies House has accepted the filing, and file a correction if something was wrong.

If you cannot file because of an event outside your control, such as a fire that destroyed company records, you can apply to extend the deadline. You must apply before the deadline, and you may not be eligible if you have already extended it or shortened your accounting period.

Yes. Small companies, micro-entities and dormant companies may be able to send simpler abridged accounts to Companies House and may not need an audit. You must still send full statutory accounts to your members and to HMRC.

A small company can choose whether to send a director’s report and profit and loss account to Companies House, and can send abridged accounts only if all its members agree. A micro-entity can send just a balance sheet with less information. Either way, less of your business is visible on the public register.

A company is dormant if it had no significant transactions in the year, not counting things such as Companies House filing fees, late-filing penalties or money paid for shares at incorporation. Dormant companies still have to file.

A private limited company that files late is charged an automatic penalty of between £150 and £1,500, depending on how late the accounts are. The penalty is doubled if your accounts are late two years in a row.

HMRC has its own penalties for a late Company Tax Return, which are separate from these. Our guide to the confirmation statement covers the other filing that carries a strike-off risk.

Yes. From 1 April 2028 all companies must file their accounts with Companies House using commercial software, and the web and paper services will close for accounts filings. This applies whether you file yourself or use an accountant.

Companies House says there will be no transition period, and any accounts due after that date must be filed with software, including revised accounts. Software files accounts in iXBRL format, and not all software supports the tagging this needs, so check with your provider if you already use accounting software.

You do not have to use an accountant, but directors stay responsible for the accounts either way. A company with simple affairs may prepare its own accounts in suitable software; one with stock, employees, loans or group structures usually benefits from professional help.

Accurate, on-time accounts matter beyond compliance. A lender reading your figures wants to see a business that keeps proper records. Our guide to what lenders look for in a business loan explains how accounts feed into that, and how to compare business lenders helps once offers arrive.

Capzy is a credit broker, not a lender, and is paid by the lender. We do not prepare or file accounts and do not give accounting or tax advice, so ask an accountant to prepare your figures and check the deadlines for your company.

When you want finance, up-to-date accounts help. You can check your funding options with a soft search that does not affect your credit score, and see the lender directory to learn which providers offer which products. A full application to a lender may involve a hard search, and any offer is subject to status and lender criteria.