Company filing and reporting requirements

Limited companies have several obligations to fulfil for both Companies House and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). As a director, you are legally responsible for maintaining these important company filing and reporting requirements, which include:

• Sending an annual confirmation statement to Companies House at least once every 12 months
• Preparing financial accounts for Companies House each year
• Notifying Companies House about changes to company details
• Filing Company Tax Returns and annual accounts with HMRC
• Paying Corporation Tax on profits

If your company is dormant (not trading) you must notify the Corporation Tax department within HMRC. In this instance, your company will not have any tax-related filing obligations to fulfil until it becomes active.

Company filing and reporting requirements for Companies House

Companies have two statutory filing requirements for Companies House that they must carry out every year, regardless of whether they are trading or dormant. These are the annual accounts and the confirmation statement. They must also tell Companies House if there are any changes to their registered details.

1. Annual accounts

Companies House will provide you with an accounting reference date (ARD) after incorporating your company. This represents the end of your company’s financial year, which is the date to which your annual accounts should be prepared.

The ARD will fall on the last day of the month of incorporation. For example, if you register your company on 1 March, your ARD will be 31 March the following year.

Accounts must be filed at Companies House within 9 months of your ARD. Full statutory accounts should include the following:

• Profit and loss account
• Balance sheet
• Directors’ report
• Auditors’ report – unless a company qualifies for exemption
• Notes to the accounts

Small companies and micro-entities that qualify for audit exemption may file abridged (simpler) accounts instead. Abridged accounts need only contain a balance sheet and any notes required. You can include a simplified profit and loss account and a copy of the director’s report, but doing so is optional.

If your company is dormant, you must prepare dormant accounts for Companies House instead. These are very basic accounts containing a balance sheet with information on the company’s share capital. A company is classed as dormant by Companies House if it has no ‘significant’ transactions in the financial year.

2. Confirmation statement

A confirmation statement should be prepared for Companies House at least once every 12 months. The purpose of filing this document is to confirm to Companies House that the information they hold on your company is correct, including:

• the registered office address
• directors’ details
• SIC codes
• information about shares and shareholders
• details held on your PSC register
• the company’s registered email address

With the exception of shareholders’ details and SIC codes, you must tell Companies House about any changes to your company details as soon as possible. Changes to share capital, shareholders’ details, and SIC codes can be reported when you file the annual confirmation statement. All other changes must be reported separately.

Company filing and reporting requirements for HMRC

Companies House will tell HMRC that your company has been incorporated. You will then receive a letter from HMRC to explain your company filing and reporting requirements.

1. Register for Corporation Tax

Within 3 months of carrying on any kind of business activity, you must register your company’s trading status as ‘active’ for Corporation Tax purposes. You can do this online. HMRC will then inform you of your accounting period for Corporation Tax. It will begin on the date your business starts trading, and it will usually end on your company’s accounting reference date (ARD).

See also: Corporation Tax for limited companies See also: How to prepare a Company Tax Return See also: 25 financial terms every business owner should know

If you are not planning to begin trading for a while after incorporation, you’ll need to tell HMRC that your company is dormant for Corporation Tax. By doing so, you won’t be expected to file a Company Tax Return until after you start trading.

2. Company Tax Return

If your company is active for Corporation Tax, you must file a Company Tax Return with HMRC each year. The deadline for delivering your tax return is 12 months after your accounting period ends. You must include full annual accounts with the tax return, even if your company qualifies as ‘small’.

3. Pay Corporation Tax

Companies are required to pay between 19% and 25% Corporation Tax on all profits. The rate payable depends on how much profit your company makes in a year, which you will report in your Company Tax Return. The deadline for paying Corporation Tax is 9 months and 1 day after your accounting period ends.

4. Value Added Tax (VAT)

You’ll need to register for VAT if your company’s total VAT-taxable turnover for the last 12 months is more than £90,000 (the VAT registration threshold) or if you expect turnover to exceed that threshold in the next 30 days.

You also have the option of registering voluntarily when turnover is below £90,000. Many businesses do so because there are several potential benefits to being VAT-registered.

If you register for VAT, you will be required to file a VAT Return with HMRC every three months (or annually, if you join the Annual Accounting Scheme). The filing and payment deadline is usually one month and seven days after the end of each accounting period.

5. Pay As You Earn (PAYE) 

If your company employs people or pays you a director’s salary, you’ll likely be required to register as an employer and enrol for PAYE. You’ll then be required to complete certain payroll tasks for HMRC, including reporting pay and deductions to HMRC each month in a Full Payment Submission (FPS).

How to prepare and file documents at Companies House

The easiest and most secure way to deliver statutory information to Companies House is through WebFiling or Software Filing. These services enable the submission and acknowledgement of electronic data sent by companies and LLPs to Companies House. The Software Filing service operates by the electronic transmission of documents to Companies House via an HTTPS link using Extensible Markup Language (XML).

Rapid Formations provides access to electronic filing facilities through an Online Admin Portal. This service is available 24/7 to all clients. Non-clients can create a free account by providing their company number and authentication code and importing their company onto our system.

You can then upload and file documents electronically, deliver annual confirmation statements, access and update company details online, and report changes to Companies House quickly and securely.

Filing documents electronically

Documents filed through our Online Admin Portal are formatted in accordance with Companies House requirements. You will sign these documents by providing your authentication code – this is the electronic equivalent of a unique pen-to-paper signature.

Any paper document uploaded and sent via software filing should be on A4 plain white paper. Your company registration number (CRN) and full company name should be placed in a prominent position on the document.

Filing documents by post

Paper documents should be on A4 plain white paper with a matt finish. The text should be black, clear, legible, and of uniform density. Letters and numbers should be clear and legible to enable Companies House to make an acceptable copy of the document.

Each year, approximately 6,000 sets of annual accounts delivered to Companies House are rejected due to inadequate legibility. Stick to the following guidelines to avoid rejection:

• Use black ink or black type
• Use bold lettering (certain thin typefaces and pens give poor-quality copies)
• Do not send a carbon copy
• Do not use a dot matrix printer
• Keep in mind – photocopies can result in a grey shade that will not scan well
• Use A4 size paper with a good margin
• Supply them in portrait format (that is with the shorter edge across the top)
• Include the company registration number and full company name

If you are delivering documents by post, courier, Document Exchange Service (DX), or Legal Post (in Scotland) and would like a receipt, Companies House will provide an acknowledgement if you enclose a copy of your covering letter with a stamped addressed envelope. Your copy letter will be barcoded with the date of receipt and returned to you in the envelope provided.

Statutory documents will not be accepted by Companies House if they are submitted by fax, email, or in PDF format (except electronically filed certified copies of charge instruments).

What happens to the documents delivered to Companies House?

When you file documents electronically, Companies House will create an electronic image from the data you provide. Paper documents and forms are scanned to produce an electronic image. Original paper documents are stored, and electronic images are used as the working document and reproduced online for the public register.

Can I file documents at Companies House in other languages?

Generally, the law requires that you deliver documents to Companies House in English. However, Welsh companies (those complying with section 88 of the Companies Act 2006) may draw up and deliver certain documents in Welsh without an accompanying certified translation in English.

In all other cases, you can deliver the following documents in languages other than English and Welsh if the document is accompanied by a certified translation into English:

• Resolutions and agreements affecting a company’s constitution delivered under Chapter 3 of Part 3 of the Companies Act 2006
• Accounts of larger EEA groups, the group accounts and parent undertaking’s annual report
• Accounts of larger non-EEA groups, the group accounts and, where appropriate, the consolidated annual report
• A charge instrument, or copy charge instrument
• Valuation report required to be delivered to the registrar under section 94(2)(d) of the Companies Act
• Articles of association
• Memorandum of association
• Court orders

Companies may also file voluntary certified translations of any document subject to the First Company Law Directive disclosure requirements. These are as follows:

• The memorandum and articles of association.
• Appointment of a director
• Changes to directors’ particulars
• Termination of a director
• Annual accounts
• Annual confirmation statement
• Change of registered office address
• Winding up documents
• Share capital documents (public companies only)
• Documents relating to mergers and divisions (public companies only)
• Documents relating to overseas companies

Voluntary translations can only be filed in an official language of the European Union and must be accompanied by Form VT01, which will link the translation to the original document.

Set up reminders for your company filing and reporting requirements

One of the best ways to keep on top of your company filing and reporting requirements is to sign up for Companies House eReminder service. It is completely free and will provide you with timely electronic reminders when your annual accounts and confirmation statement filing deadlines are approaching. Your company can select up to 4 email addresses to receive notifications through this service.

How to register for eReminders

• Log in to (or register for) WebFiling on the Companies House website
• Select ‘Join eReminders’ when the option is presented to you on the screen
• Add up to four email addresses to receive your filing reminders
• Validate your chosen email address through the email sent by Companies House
• Agree to the eReminder Service Terms of Operation

Companies House will send a second email to you confirming your registration for the eReminder Service. To double-check that you’re all set up, visit the company overview screen to make sure the eReminder option has a tick next to it.

Companies House eReminder service is a convenient alternative to postal reminders, which you are more likely to misplace. It is such an easy service to sign up for, and you can select up to four email addresses for receiving these reminders, so we highly recommend using it.

Thanks for reading

Running a limited comes with a great deal of responsibility, including the requirement to fulfil several filing and reporting obligations for Companies House and HMRC. Take some time to familiarise yourself with these to fully understand your duties as a director and company owner.

If you have any questions about this post, please leave a comment below. You can also find lots more helpful advice and guidance in the Rapid Formations Blog.