The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 gave Companies House powers to change how company accounts are filed. The timetable has moved several times, and part of the package has now been put on hold. This page sets out the position announced by Companies House on 23 October 2026 and what a small company should do about it.
What starts on 1 April 2028
From 1 April 2028, all companies must file their annual accounts using commercial software, in iXBRL format. The free web filing service and paper filing close for accounts on that date. This applies to every company, including micro-entities and dormant companies, whether the directors file themselves or an accountant files for them. Web filing stays open for other filings such as the confirmation statement.
Three smaller changes start at the same time:
- a strengthened eligibility statement for every company claiming audit exemption;
- the component parts of the accounts and reports must be filed together rather than in pieces;
- a limit on how often a company can shorten its accounting reference period (the details are still to be published).
What has been paused
The plan to require small companies and micro-entities to file a profit and loss account at Companies House has been paused, with no new date. Small companies can therefore still deliver a balance sheet and notes without the profit and loss account and directors’ report (filleted accounts), and abridged accounts remain available with the agreement of all members. Earlier announcements that abridged accounts would end, or that a profit and loss account would become compulsory from April 2028, no longer reflect the plan. Read the current position in Companies House’s update to accounts filing from April 2028.
Medium-sized and large companies already file a profit and loss account and are not affected by the pause.
What this means for different companies
| Company | Filing route today | From 1 April 2028 |
|---|---|---|
| Dormant company using web filing | AA02 or dormant accounts online | software, iXBRL |
| Micro-entity filing a balance sheet only | web filing or software | software; balance sheet only still allowed |
| Small company filing filleted accounts | web filing or software | software; filleting still allowed |
| Company using an accountant’s software | software | unchanged route, new audit-exemption statement |
How to prepare
- Find out how your accounts are filed now. If a director types figures into the web service, a new route is needed before the first deadline after 1 April 2028.
- Choose the route: accounts production software that files to Companies House, or an accountant who files for you. HMRC already requires iXBRL accounts with the CT600, so one tagged set can usually serve both.
- Keep the company’s authentication code safe; software filing still needs it.
- Check which accounts you will file (micro-entity, filleted, abridged or full) and record the members’ consent if you use abridged accounts.
- Plan the timetable: the filing deadline (normally nine months after the year end for a private company) does not move, so approval and signing must leave time for tagging and submission.
Preparing a profit and loss account anyway
Even while filing is paused, every company must still prepare a full profit and loss account for its members and for HMRC. Filleting only decides what goes on the public register. Keeping the nominal ledger mapped to the statutory headings (turnover, cost of sales, administrative expenses, staff costs, interest, tax) makes the HMRC computation, any future Companies House requirement and management reporting use the same figures.
For the filing process itself see filing accounts with Companies House, and for the size categories micro-entity vs small company accounts.