Filing Company Accounts With Companies House: Steps

Every limited company in the UK must prepare annual accounts and file them with Companies House. For many directors it feels like a task that appears once a year, with a deadline that comes around faster than expected. This guide sets out the filing process in order, explains what the accounts need to contain, and points to the mistakes that most often cause late or rejected filings.

Key takeaways

• Every limited company must file annual accounts with Companies House, including dormant companies.
• For a private company the deadline is normally nine months after the accounting period ends.
• Accounts go to Companies House. The Corporation Tax return goes to HMRC. They are separate filings.
• Late filing leads to automatic penalties, so plan the work in advance.
• Good bookkeeping through the year makes the filing quick and reduces errors.

What are statutory accounts?

Statutory accounts are the formal annual financial statements that a company must prepare under company law. For a small company they typically include a balance sheet, which shows what the company owns and owes at the year end, and notes that explain the figures. Many small companies also prepare a profit and loss account for their own use and for the tax return, even where the version filed publicly is shorter.

The exact content depends on the company's size and the accounting rules it follows. Check the current requirements on GOV.UK's guide to a company's annual requirements, or ask your accountant which format applies.

Key dates you need to know

Your accounting reference date sets the company's year end. From that date the clock starts on several deadlines. For a private limited company, the filing deadlines for ordinary years are generally these:

Your first accounts follow different rules, and large companies may have different payment dates, so always check the dates for your own company in the Companies House online service. Our guide to company accounts deadlines and year end explores the timeline further.

Step-by-step filing process

1. Close the books. Finish your bookkeeping for the period. Reconcile your bank accounts, record all sales and costs and check your director's loan account.
2. Prepare the figures. Produce the profit and loss account and balance sheet, including accruals, prepayments, depreciation and tax adjustments where needed.
3. Approve the accounts. The board of directors approves the accounts, and a director signs the balance sheet on behalf of the board.
4. Choose how to file. You can file online through Companies House or through approved accounting software. Paper filing is possible in some cases but slower.
5. Submit and keep confirmation. Companies House acknowledges receipt and, once accepted, publishes the accounts on the public record.
6. File the Corporation Tax return with HMRC. This is a separate step using the same underlying figures.

You can find the current filing routes through GOV.UK's guidance on filing annual accounts. Because filing rules have been changing in recent years, always confirm the current requirements before you submit.

What goes into the figures

Accurate accounts begin with accurate records. Your accountant or software will want all sales invoices, purchase invoices and receipts, bank and card statements, loan and finance agreements, payroll records, asset purchases and details of any director's loan balances. If the director has taken money out or put money in during the year, the director's loan account needs to be right. Our guide to the director's loan account explains why that is a common trouble spot.

If your company pays wages, tidy payroll data matters too, since salaries, employer National Insurance and pension contributions all feed into the accounts. See our payroll service if you want help here.

Worked example (illustrative)

"Greenfield Courier Ltd", an illustrative company, has a year end of 31 March. Its accounts would normally be due at Companies House by 31 December the same year, which is nine months later. Its Corporation Tax would normally be payable by 1 January after that, and its Company Tax Return is due twelve months after the year end, on 31 March the following year. The director starts preparing in the autumn, sends her records to her accountant in November, approves the draft in early December and files with a few weeks to spare. Because she planned ahead, a missing invoice found in November does not trigger a penalty. The dates are illustrative and your own deadlines depend on your year end.

Why late filing is worth avoiding

Companies House charges automatic penalties for filing late, and the amounts increase the longer the delay. Repeated late filing can lead to bigger penalties and, in the worst cases, to the company being struck off the register. Late filing is also visible on the public record, which can affect how banks, suppliers and customers see the business. Check the current penalty scale on GOV.UK, but the safest approach is simply to file with time to spare.

Small companies and filing exemptions

Smaller companies can often file less information on the public record than larger ones. Depending on the size tests that the company meets, it may be able to file a shortened balance sheet and omit the profit and loss account from what is published. This does not remove the need to prepare full figures for the tax return and for your own decision making. It only changes what other people can see at Companies House.

The size tests look at turnover, balance sheet total and employee numbers, and the limits change from time to time. Check the current thresholds on GOV.UK before assuming a particular format. Dormant companies have their own simpler accounts, but the requirement to file still applies, so a company with no activity cannot simply be ignored.

Who is responsible?

The directors are legally responsible for preparing and filing accounts, even if an accountant does the work. That means a director should read the figures, understand any unusual items and check that the company's records support them. If you hand the job to an accountant, agree the timetable in writing, make sure they have all the records early and ask to see a draft with enough time to ask questions. Signing accounts you do not understand is a risk, because the signature is yours.

If your company has more than one director, it helps to agree who is the point of contact for the accountant and who approves the final version. A shared inbox or document folder prevents records from getting lost between people. Keep a copy of the filed accounts and the confirmation from Companies House with your company records.

A simple year-end checklist

• Bank and card accounts reconciled to the year-end date.
• All sales invoices issued and all supplier bills recorded, including late ones that relate to the year.
• Stock, work in progress and unpaid invoices reviewed.
• Fixed assets and depreciation or capital allowances checked.
• Payroll, PAYE and pension records agreed to the ledger.
• Director's loan account balance confirmed with the director.
• VAT, loan and other control accounts agreed to statements.

Working through a list like this a few weeks after the year end, not nine months later, makes the accounts easier to prepare and gives you time to plan the Corporation Tax payment. For more on the tax side, see our guide to Corporation Tax marginal relief.

Common mistakes

• Confusing the two deadlines. Companies House and HMRC have different dates and different forms.
• Leaving it to the last month. Missing records take time to chase and can delay everything.
• Ignoring the director's loan account. Errors here can lead to tax charges. See salary versus dividends for related decisions.
• Forgetting the confirmation statement. It is a separate annual filing and also carries consequences if missed.
• Using different figures in the accounts and tax return. The two should reconcile.

Our company accounts service prepares and files accounts, tax returns and confirmation statements together, so nothing slips between the cracks. Feel free to get in touch to talk about your year end.