Filing Companies House Accounts: A Guide for UK Trade Business Owners (2026)

What Are Annual Accounts — and How Are They Different From Your Tax Return?

This trips up almost every first-year company director. There are two completely separate filings, with two separate deadlines, sent to two separate government bodies:

• Annual accounts go to Companies House. These are a statutory record of your company's financial position — a balance sheet showing what the company owns and owes, and (for larger companies) a profit and loss account. They're placed on the public register where anyone can view them.
• The Company Tax Return (CT600) and statutory accounts go to HMRC. This calculates how much Corporation Tax your company owes on its profits.

The confusion is understandable because both are based on the same set of figures for the same accounting period. But they are filed independently. You can be fully up to date with HMRC and still be heading for a Companies House strike-off — the two systems do not talk to each other in a way that lets one cover for the other.

When Are Your Accounts Due?

Your deadline hangs off your accounting reference date (ARD) — the date your financial year ends. When you incorporate, Companies House sets your ARD to the last day of the month in which you registered. So if you set up your company on 12 March, your first ARD is 31 March.

The filing rules are:

• Subsequent (ongoing) accounts: due 9 months after the accounting reference date. A company with a 31 March year end must file by 31 December.
• First accounts: due 21 months after the date of incorporation (not 9 months after the first year end). This is because your first accounting period is usually slightly longer than 12 months.

The deadline is a hard date, not a target. Companies House does not send a reminder you can rely on, and "my accountant was busy" or "I didn't realise" will not get a penalty cancelled. Put the date in your diary the day you incorporate.

Micro-Entity vs Small Company Accounts

The good news for most trade businesses: you almost certainly qualify for the simplest, most stripped-back form of accounts. The vast majority of sole-director trade Ltds are micro-entities, which means you file the bare minimum and keep your numbers off the public record as much as the law allows.

Your company is a micro-entity if it meets at least two of these three conditions:

• Turnover of £1 million or less
• Balance sheet total (total assets) of £500,000 or less
• 10 employees or fewer

Your company is a small company if it meets at least two of these three:

• Turnover of £15 million or less
• Balance sheet total of £7.5 million or less
• 50 employees or fewer

What this means in practice for filing:

• Micro-entities can file a simplified balance sheet with very limited notes, and do not have to file a profit and loss account or a directors' report. The amount of financial detail on the public register is minimal — a competitor browsing your filings sees very little.
• Small companies can file abridged or "filleted" accounts — a balance sheet with reduced notes — and can also choose not to file a profit and loss account or directors' report at Companies House (the full version still goes to HMRC).

For a one-van electrician or a small building firm, this usually boils down to filing a balance sheet only. Your turnover, profit and director's pay stay private. Note: from 2026, Companies House reforms under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act are tightening this and gradually requiring small companies to file a profit and loss account, so check the current rules with your accountant for your specific year end.

The Confirmation Statement Is Not Your Accounts

Another pair of filings people muddle together. The confirmation statement (form CS01) is a completely separate annual filing from your accounts. It confirms that the information Companies House holds about your company is correct — registered office, directors, shareholders, persons with significant control (PSC) and your standard industrial classification (SIC) code.

• It is due once a year on the anniversary of incorporation (or the last confirmation statement).
• The fee is £34 to file online (£62 by paper) and you can file as many statements as you like in the 12-month period for that single annual payment.
• It carries no financial figures — it is purely about company details.

So in a typical year a trade Ltd has three recurring obligations: annual accounts to Companies House, a confirmation statement to Companies House, and a Company Tax Return to HMRC. Track all three separately.

How to File Your Accounts

There are three realistic routes:

• Companies House WebFiling: the free online service. You log in with your company authentication code and can file micro-entity and small-company accounts directly. Fine for a simple balance sheet if you're confident with the figures.
• Joint HMRC / Companies House filing: for micro-entities and small companies you can file accounts to Companies House and your CT600 to HMRC at the same time through HMRC's online service. This is the tidiest option if you do your own filing — one set of figures, two destinations.
• Accounting software or an accountant: packages used by most trade firms file accounts electronically for you and most accountants include both filings in their annual fee (typically £400–£900 + VAT for a small trade Ltd). For most owners this is money well spent — the penalty for getting it wrong dwarfs the fee.

Whichever route you use, keep your own bookkeeping clean throughout the year. Filing is painless when your income and expenses are already reconciled — and a nightmare when you're reconstructing a year of receipts the week before the deadline.

Late Filing Penalties

This is the part that costs trade businesses real money. Companies House applies an automatic penalty the moment you miss the deadline — there is no warning period and no discretion for a first offence. For a private limited company the penalty is banded by how late the accounts are:

And here is the sting most directors don't see coming: if you file late two years running, the penalty is doubled. File more than six months late in two consecutive years and that's a £3,000 hit. The penalty is the company's debt and Companies House will pursue it — including referring it to debt collection — even after the accounts are eventually filed.

Appeals are rarely successful. "Unexpected illness" or genuine postal/IT failures may occasionally be accepted, but pressure of work, a busy job season, or your accountant letting you down are not grounds for cancellation. Treat the deadline as immovable.

How to Change Your Accounting Reference Date

You can shorten your accounting period as often as you like, and lengthen it once every five years (to a maximum of 18 months), by filing form AA01 — for free — through WebFiling. Trade owners do this for two main reasons:

• To buy time when a deadline is looming. Shortening your year end — even by one day — resets the filing clock and gives you a fresh period to file. Important: you cannot extend a period whose filing deadline has already passed, so this only works if you act before the due date.
• To align with the tax year or a quieter season, so your accounts work falls outside your busiest months on the tools.

Changing your ARD also moves your deadline, so always note the new date the moment the change is confirmed.

What Happens If You Just Don't File?

Ignoring the obligation entirely is far worse than a late penalty. The consequences escalate:

• Strike-off: Companies House can begin compulsory strike-off proceedings to dissolve your company for non-filing. If your company is dissolved, any assets it holds — including money in the business bank account and vans owned by the company — pass to the Crown as bona vacantia. Recovering them is expensive and slow.
• Director disqualification: Persistently failing to file is a breach of your duties as a director. The Insolvency Service can seek a disqualification order banning you from acting as a company director for up to 15 years.
• Criminal liability: Failing to file accounts is a criminal offence for which directors can be personally prosecuted and fined — separate from the company's late filing penalty.
• Credit and reputation damage: A company in strike-off proceedings or with overdue accounts shows up on the public register. Suppliers running credit checks, merchants reviewing trade accounts, and main contractors vetting subbies all see it.

Practical Tips for Trade Owners

• Diary every deadline the day you incorporate — accounts, confirmation statement and Corporation Tax. Set reminders a month before each.
• Keep bookkeeping current. Reconcile income and expenses monthly so year-end is a review, not a rebuild.
• File early. There is no downside to filing accounts as soon as your year ends — only risk in leaving it.
• Separate your records. A dedicated business bank account and clean records make both the Companies House and HMRC filings straightforward.
• If you're close to a deadline you can't meet, consider shortening your ARD before the due date to reset the clock — and speak to your accountant immediately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to file accounts if my company didn't trade?

Yes. A dormant company still has to file accounts (a simple dormant balance sheet) and a confirmation statement every year. Doing nothing is not an option even if you earned nothing through the company.

Will Companies House remind me before the deadline?

You can sign up for email reminders, and there's an alert in your WebFiling account, but never rely on a reminder. The legal duty to file on time sits with you as director regardless of whether a reminder arrives.

Can I pay the Corporation Tax return and accounts together?

They're separate deadlines — Corporation Tax is payable 9 months and one day after your year end, and the CT600 return is due 12 months after. You can file the accounts and CT600 jointly online, but the tax payment is its own deadline. Don't conflate filing with paying.

My accountant files for me — am I off the hook?

No. The legal responsibility to file on time and accurately always rests with the company's directors, not the accountant. If they miss the deadline, the penalty is still the company's — so stay on top of the dates yourself.

Can I appeal a late filing penalty?

You can, but success is rare and limited to genuinely exceptional circumstances beyond your control. Routine reasons — being busy on site, software trouble or an accountant's delay — are not accepted. The penalty stands and must be paid.