Year-end accounts 2026/27 — the limited company director's guide.

If you're a limited company director, year-end accounts are the single most important compliance event in your annual calendar. Get them right and they're a routine 4-week process; get them wrong and you face escalating penalties, identity verification problems, software headaches, and in extreme cases personal liability or company strike-off. This guide walks you through everything you need to know for 2026/27, starting with what changed at Companies House in April 2026 — because if you only learn one thing from this page, it's that the old way of filing accounts no longer works.

What's changed in 2026

Two pieces of legislation drive the recent changes: the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA), which is being rolled out in stages, and the increased company size thresholds that came into effect for accounting periods starting on or after 6 April 2025.

If you haven't filed accounts since the changes, here's what's different.

Companies House WebFiling closed (1 April 2026)

The free WebFiling service that let directors upload accounts directly through the Companies House website permanently closed on 1 April 2026. All annual accounts must now be filed using approved commercial software in iXBRL format — a structured XML-based standard that tags individual figures (turnover, gross profit, fixed assets) so they can be machine-read. You can no longer file by post either.

Alongside this, HMRC's free online CT600 filing service has ended, as has the joint filing service that allowed small companies to submit accounts and corporation tax returns together. If you used either of these, you now need to either use commercial software (your existing cloud accounting platform may already handle this) or engage an accountant who files through their own software.

Mandatory identity verification

Since 18 November 2025, all new directors and Persons with Significant Control (PSCs) must verify their identity at Companies House before their appointment can be confirmed. Existing directors and PSCs are in a 12-month transition period — your specific deadline depends on the timing of your company's next confirmation statement, with November 2026 as the final backstop. Without identity verification, your filings get blocked.

Companies House fees increased (1 February 2026)

Several core fees increased to fund the ECCTA reforms:

• Digital incorporation: £50 → £100 (same-day service £78 → £156)
• Confirmation statement (digital): £34 → £50
• Confirmation statement (paper): £62 → £83

Small company thresholds increased (April 2025)

Substantial uplift to bring thresholds in line with inflation since they were last set. We cover the new thresholds in detail in the size thresholds section below.

What's NOT changing (for now)

One important piece of good news: the planned April 2027 requirement for small companies and micro-entities to publicly file their profit and loss accounts has been paused. Companies House confirmed in January 2026 that these reforms are still under review, and that companies will receive at least 21 months' notice before any new accounts filing requirements come in. For now:

• Small companies can still file filleted accounts (no P&L, no directors' report)
• Micro-entities can still file the minimal balance sheet only
• The audit exemption thresholds for small companies still apply

This is meaningful — keeping your trading results out of the public record matters to many small companies. For now, the option remains.

What year-end accounts actually are

"Year-end accounts" is shorthand for two related but distinct things, and people often confuse them.

Statutory accounts are the formal financial statements your company is legally required to prepare each year. They typically include a balance sheet, profit and loss account, notes, and (for non-small companies) a directors' report and strategic report. These are prepared under UK GAAP — either FRS 102 or FRS 105 — and signed off by the directors.

The version you file at Companies House is normally a reduced version of those statutory accounts. Small companies can file filleted accounts (no P&L, no directors' report); micro-entities can file just an abridged balance sheet. The full statutory accounts still exist privately for shareholders, HMRC and your own records.

You also need to prepare a separate corporation tax computation that converts the accounting profit into a taxable profit — adding back disallowable expenses (entertainment, fines), claiming capital allowances on fixed assets, and applying any reliefs. The tax computation underpins the CT600 return filed with HMRC.

So you typically end up with three deliverables: statutory accounts (long version), filleted accounts (short version for Companies House), and the CT600 plus computation (for HMRC). They all interlock — get the numbers wrong in one and they're wrong in all of them.

Deadlines that matter

There are four deadlines a director needs to know. Miss any of them and there are real financial consequences.

If your company is brand new, your first set of accounts has a longer initial deadline — 21 months from the date of incorporation, rather than 9 months from your accounting reference date. This is because your first accounting period often runs for slightly more than 12 months (from incorporation to the end of the month you incorporated in, the following year).

Late filing penalties

Companies House charges escalating penalties for late accounts. For a private limited company:

Corporation tax late filing has a separate penalty regime starting at £100, rising substantially if the CT600 is more than three months late and increasing further again at six and twelve months. Interest also runs on unpaid corporation tax from the moment it's due.

New size thresholds 2026/27

For accounting periods starting on or after 6 April 2025, the company size thresholds increased substantially — by roughly 50%. This change matters because what size you are dictates what accounting standard you use, what you have to disclose, what you have to file, and whether you need an audit.

To qualify for a size category, you need to meet two of three criteria for two consecutive financial years.

The practical consequences of being able to drop down a size category are substantial:

• Audit exemption — small companies are generally exempt from audit (~£2,500 to £15,000+ saving per year)
• Reduced disclosure — fewer mandatory notes to the accounts
• Exemption from filing P&L at Companies House (small) or filing anything beyond an abridged balance sheet (micro)
• Exemption from Strategic Report and Section 172(1) statement requirements
• Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) exemption
• Simpler accounting framework — FRS 105 for micro-entities is significantly less complex than full FRS 102

If you've been borderline-small for a few years, check whether the new thresholds let you reclassify. The savings can be meaningful, particularly the audit exemption.

What you actually file

What goes to Companies House depends on what size category you fall into. Here's the contrast.

Micro-entity (FRS 105)

The simplest possible filing. A balance sheet, two or three pages of notes, signed by the director. No profit and loss account on the public record. No directors' report required. Most newly-incorporated small businesses without complex transactions qualify and file as micro-entities. FRS 105 has limitations though — no deferred tax, no revaluations of fixed assets or investment properties, no fair value accounting — so growing businesses sometimes outgrow it.

Small company (FRS 102 Section 1A) — filleted

A small company under the reduced-disclosure regime of FRS 102 Section 1A files filleted accounts: balance sheet and notes only, no profit and loss account, no directors' report. The full statutory accounts (with P&L) still exist privately for HMRC and shareholders. This is the most common filing for established small companies.

Small company (FRS 102 Section 1A) — full

Same standard, but the company chooses to file the full accounts including P&L and directors' report. Few small companies voluntarily do this — usually only where shareholders, lenders or trading partners specifically want the additional transparency.

Medium and large

Full statutory accounts under FRS 102 (or IFRS for listed companies and groups), with no filleting. Audit required. Directors' report and (for large companies) Strategic Report required. SECR disclosures. Much more disclosure throughout the notes.

The end-to-end process

Here's the typical timeline for a small limited company preparing year-end accounts. We've shown it as a 12-week run-up to the filing deadline.

If you don't have an accountant, double the time estimates — most of these steps take longer when you're learning them. If you're really up against the deadline, prioritise: get accounts filed at Companies House first (the £1,500 penalty bites fastest), pay the tax second, file the CT600 last.

Software options after WebFiling closed

With WebFiling gone, you have three broad routes to file accounts.

Use your existing cloud accounting platform

If you keep books on Xero, FreeAgent, QuickBooks, Sage Business Cloud or similar, your platform likely already includes (or has add-on access to) year-end accounts production and iXBRL filing. Some bundle this in the standard subscription; others charge extra. Check the iXBRL filing capability specifically — it's separate from regular bookkeeping.

Use dedicated accounts production software

If your bookkeeping doesn't include accounts production, options like TaxCalc, Capium, BTCSoftware or VT Final Accounts let you prepare and file iXBRL accounts directly. These are typically priced per filing or per company per year (£100–£300/year for small numbers of companies).

Use an accountant

The simplest option for most directors. Your accountant uses their own commercial software, charges a fixed fee per year for accounts plus tax return, and handles all the format, filing and software complexity. At Fernside our limited company package starts at £125/month (£1,500/year), which covers all year-end work plus ongoing compliance.

What it actually costs

The realistic all-in cost of year-end compliance for a small UK limited company in 2026/27 looks something like this.

The DIY route looks cheaper but consumes 20–40 hours of your time per year, often at exactly the moments you want to be focused on customers and growth. The accountant route is more expensive cash-wise but typically delivers better tax planning, fewer mistakes, and substantially less of your time.

The break-even is roughly: if your hourly value to your business exceeds £20–30, an accountant is almost always cheaper than DIY once you factor in your time. For most growing businesses this is obvious; for newly-incorporated tiny companies it's sometimes worth doing DIY for a year to learn how the system works, then switching to an accountant once revenue justifies it.

Common mistakes

The same handful of errors come up year after year in small company year-ends. Here are the ones we see most often, in rough order of frequency.

1. Mixing personal and business expenses

The single most common bookkeeping problem. Personal Amazon purchases run through the business card. Business meals paid for personally and not reclaimed. Director's salary withdrawals classified as expenses. All of these distort the accounts and the tax computation, and almost all of them get unwound at year-end — which is more painful than just keeping clean books in the first place.

2. Director's loan account confusion

If you take money out of the company that isn't salary, dividend or repayment of expenses, it becomes a director's loan. Loans of more than £10,000 that aren't repaid within 9 months of year-end trigger a temporary corporation tax charge under Section 455 (currently 33.75% of the loan balance). Overdrawn director's loan accounts also trigger benefit-in-kind charges. We see directors accidentally overdrawn at year-end every single year — usually because they took dividends without checking there were sufficient reserves.

3. Paying dividends without distributable reserves

You can only legally pay dividends out of distributable reserves (broadly, retained accumulated post-tax profit). Paying dividends when reserves are negative makes them unlawful dividends, which technically have to be repaid by the recipient and can have HMRC consequences. Most small-company directors don't formally check reserves before voting dividends — they should.

4. Not filing dividend paperwork

Dividends require a board minute approving the dividend and a dividend voucher for each shareholder. Without the paperwork, HMRC can argue the payment wasn't actually a dividend (and is therefore a director's loan or salary, with different tax consequences). Boilerplate minutes and vouchers are easy to produce — there's no excuse for not having them.

5. Forgetting capital allowances

If your company bought equipment, vehicles, computers or other fixed assets during the year, capital allowances reduce your tax bill — sometimes substantially. The Annual Investment Allowance lets you write off the full cost of most plant and machinery in the year of purchase (up to £1 million), and there's a 100% First Year Allowance for new electric vehicles. Missing these costs real money.

6. Filing the wrong accounts format

Filing full statutory accounts when filleted accounts would have sufficed (unnecessarily putting P&L on the public record). Filing FRS 102 accounts when FRS 105 was available (unnecessary complexity and disclosure). Using the wrong iXBRL taxonomy. All these are common, fixable, and add no value to the company.

7. Missing the confirmation statement

The confirmation statement (CS01) is a separate filing from your accounts — it confirms your registered details, directors, PSCs and share capital are still accurate. It's due once a year on the anniversary of incorporation. Missing it doesn't trigger an immediate penalty but does eventually lead to strike-off proceedings. Don't ignore the reminder emails from Companies House.

Identity verification — the new ECCTA requirement

Since 18 November 2025, identity verification at Companies House has been mandatory for all directors and PSCs of UK limited companies. This is one of the largest practical changes brought in by the ECCTA and it's worth understanding properly.

Two routes:

• Direct verification via the Companies House service — free, online, takes 10–15 minutes. You'll need a UK passport, UK driving licence, or biometric residence permit. Some non-UK ID is accepted via the Companies House mobile app.
• Verification through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) — accountants and company formation agents who are registered as ACSPs can verify your identity on your behalf. Fernside Accounting itself is not an ACSP, but for clients who need this, we co-ordinate identity verification through our sister firm The Tax Lead, which is ACSP-registered. There's no extra step from your point of view — we handle the handoff.

Once verified, you receive a unique identifier (UI) code that links to your Companies House digital identity. This stays with you across all your director and PSC roles in future.

Existing directors and PSCs are in a 12-month transition period. The deadline for your specific verification depends on when your company's next confirmation statement is due, but the final backstop is November 2026. You can verify earlier — many directors are doing so during their normal year-end work to avoid leaving it to the last minute.

Why this matters for year-end accounts: from your next confirmation statement after the relevant deadline, you can't file the confirmation statement without all directors and PSCs having verified their identity. Confirmation statement filings being blocked has knock-on effects — your company can be marked as non-compliant, which can affect bank account renewals, lending applications, and your ability to bid for some contracts.

Sources & further reading

The figures and rules in this guide are based on the following HMRC and Companies House publications. Always check the latest version on gov.uk before acting:

• File your annual accounts with Companies House (gov.uk)
• Company Tax Return: when to file (gov.uk)
• Corporation Tax: payment and deadlines (gov.uk)
• Companies House late filing penalties (gov.uk)
• Verify your identity at Companies House — new ECCTA requirements (gov.uk)
• Accounts and tax returns for private limited companies (gov.uk)

This guide was last reviewed in May 2026 and reflects the 2026/27 tax year. Tax rates and thresholds may change at subsequent Budgets.

Common questions

When is my year-end as a limited company?

Your year-end (accounting reference date) is set automatically when you incorporate — it's the last day of the month your company was formed in. So a company formed on 15 March will have a year-end of 31 March each year. You can change this date by extending or shortening your accounting period, though Companies House restricts how often you can do this.

What's the deadline for filing year-end accounts?

For private limited companies, accounts must be filed at Companies House within 9 months of your accounting reference date. So if your year-end is 31 March 2025, accounts are due by 31 December 2025. Your first set of accounts after incorporation has a longer deadline — 21 months from incorporation. Late filing penalties start at £150 and escalate quickly to £1,500 if you're more than six months late.

What changed with Companies House filing in April 2026?

From 1 April 2026 the Companies House WebFiling service for annual accounts permanently closed. All accounts must now be filed via approved commercial software in iXBRL format. HMRC's free joint filing service for accounts plus CT600 also ended. If you previously filed accounts directly through the Companies House website or by post, you now need to either use commercial software like Xero, FreeAgent, QuickBooks or TaxCalc, or engage an accountant who will file on your behalf using their own software.

What are the new small company thresholds for 2026/27?

For accounting periods starting on or after 6 April 2025, the small company thresholds increased substantially. A small company is one that meets two of three criteria: turnover under £15 million (was £10.2 million), balance sheet total under £7.5 million (was £5.1 million), or 50 or fewer employees. Micro-entity thresholds also increased: turnover under £1 million (was £632k), balance sheet total under £500k (was £316k), or 10 or fewer employees.

What's the difference between FRS 102 Section 1A and FRS 105?

FRS 102 Section 1A is the reduced-disclosure regime for small companies. FRS 105 is the micro-entity standard with even simpler requirements. The main practical differences: FRS 105 doesn't allow deferred tax, doesn't permit revaluations of fixed assets or investment properties, has fewer mandatory disclosures, and is essentially formulaic. Most genuinely small companies use FRS 105 if they qualify as micro-entities; FRS 102 Section 1A is used when there are more complex transactions that need proper recognition.

Do I need an audit?

Most small UK limited companies are exempt from audit. You qualify for audit exemption if your company is small and isn't part of a group that exceeds the small group thresholds, isn't a public company, banking, insurance or e-money institution, and isn't required to have an audit by your articles or shareholders. If you do need an audit, budget £2,500 to £15,000+ depending on company size and complexity, and start the process at least 3 months before your filing deadline.

Are corporation tax returns separate from accounts?

Yes. Annual accounts go to Companies House (deadline 9 months after year-end). The corporation tax return (CT600) goes to HMRC with a copy of the accounts attached (deadline 12 months after year-end). The corporation tax itself must be paid 9 months and 1 day after year-end — earlier than the CT600 return is due. Up to 1 April 2026 you could file both together via HMRC's joint filing service; that service has now ended.

What's the penalty for filing accounts late?

Companies House late filing penalties for private companies start at £150 if accounts are filed up to one month late, then £375 for 1 to 3 months late, £750 for 3 to 6 months late, and £1,500 for more than 6 months late. Penalties double if you file late two years in a row. On top of this, you can face strike-off proceedings if accounts are very overdue, and directors can be personally liable in some circumstances.

Do I need to verify my identity at Companies House now?

Yes. Since 18 November 2025, identity verification has been mandatory for all new directors and Persons with Significant Control (PSCs). Existing directors and PSCs are in a transition period with deadlines based on the timing of the company's confirmation statement, with November 2026 as the final backstop. You can verify identity via the Companies House service directly (free) or through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) like Fernside Accounting.