Companies urged to file accounts early to avoid penalties
If you鈥檙e due to file accounts with Companies House by the end of September, allow plenty of time before your deadline.
All limited companies, whether they trade or not, must deliver annual accounts to us each year.聽This includes dormant companies.
Understanding your responsibilities
Running your own company can be exciting but also challenging. Directors have lots of responsibilities including keeping company records up-to-date and making sure they鈥檙e filed on time. You need to understand your role as a director, the importance of remaining compliant and how late filing could affect your company.
Missing your filing deadline could affect your credit score or access to finance. It can affect how others view your company and whether they want to do business with you. There are also financial penalties and legal consequences 鈥� you could get a criminal record, a fine or disqualification.
Even if an accountant files your company鈥檚 accounts on your behalf, it鈥檚 still your responsibility, as director, to make sure they鈥檙e filed on time.
File online
If you file using our online services we鈥檒l send you an email to confirm we鈥檝e received your accounts. We鈥檒l send you another email when we鈥檝e registered your accounts.
File your company鈥檚 accounts online before your deadline.
To file online, you may need your company authentication code. If you need to request a new code, you should allow up to 5 days for this to arrive at the company鈥檚 registered office.
Software filing
Over 65% of companies use software filing as their preferred method.
There are a variety of software providers which offer a range of accounting packages to prepare and file accounts. Most types of accounts can be filed using software, depending on the functionality of the software package you鈥檙e using.
In the future, as part of new legislation brought about by the you鈥檒l only be able to file your accounts using software. This means you鈥檒l no longer be able to file accounts on paper or using our online services. .
After the Bill achieves Royal Assent and becomes an Act, we鈥檒l let you know the timetable for the phased roll-out of the change to software-only filing. We鈥檒l make sure that if you don鈥檛 already file using software, you have time to make the change before it鈥檚 a legal requirement.
Avoid rejections
You should only send paper accounts if your company cannot file online or by software. Accounts filed on paper need to be manually checked. We can only check them during office opening hours, and they can take over a week to process.
If you need to file your accounts on paper, you should send them to us well before the deadline. This will give you plenty of time to correct your accounts and resend them if they are rejected.
It鈥檚 also important to make sure you send all documents to the correct Companies House office. This will help avoid any delays, as your documents may be re-directed and they鈥檒l take longer to reach us.
From 4 September 2023, companies registered in Scotland will need to send all documents to our Cardiff office. Read about our Edinburgh office move.
We cannot accept postal delays as a reason to appeal a late filing penalty.
Guidance and support
Register for email reminders to know when your accounts are due. You can also check your filing deadline on our .
for guidance on how to use our online services.
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