One of the many important statutory duties of directors is prepare and send annual accounts at the end of their limited company’s financial year. These accounts must be delivered to Companies House 9 months after the accounting reference date (ARD), at the very latest. You can deliver them online via Companies House WebFiling or Companies House Service (certain types of accounts only), or you can send them by post.
Small and medium-sized companies can submit abbreviated accounts to Companies House, and they usually qualify for audit exemption. However, all companies, regardless of their size must prepare full statutory accounts for HMRC.
If your company is dormant, you need only send dormant accounts to Companies House.There is no requirement to send accounts to HMRC until your company starts trading and becomes ‘active’ for Corporation Tax purposes.
Copies of prepared accounts should be given to the company member (shareholders or guarantors) and anyone else who is permitted to attend general meetings.
Key takeaways
- Directors must submit annual accounts to Companies House within 9 months of the accounting reference date.
- Small companies may qualify for audit exemption but must still prepare full statutory accounts for HMRC.
- You can change your accounting reference date online, impacting your accounts filing deadline.
When to send annual accounts
The very first set of accounts should be delivered to Companies House no later than 21 months after the date of incorporation. After the first year, you must send annual accounts no later than 9 months after the end of your accounting reference date, unless you change your ARD by shortening or lengthening your company’s financial year.
Changing your accounts filing deadline
Your accounts filing deadline will only change if you change your ARD. You can apply to Companies House online to change your accounting reference date. Other than this, extensions to this deadline are granted in very limited circumstances. Such circumstances are usually limited to events outside of your control that prevented you from sending your accounts on time. Such an application would need to be made before the filing deadline – you cannot apply for an extension if your accounts are already overdue.
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Comments (4)
I wish to file my company accounts and have requested an authentications code. I will be out of the country until 5th September, so not available to process the account by 31st August, will I be allowed 5 days grace in which to file my accounts?
Hi David,
HMRC is very strict when it comes to filing deadlines – you will receive an automatic penalty of £100 if your accounts are filed late, even by just one day. If you are unable to submit them by the deadline when you are out of the country, I would advise contacting HMRC on 0300-200-3410 before you travel to ask whether or not you can extend your accounting reference date: https://www.gov.uk/change-your-companys-year-end
I hope this helps. Best wishes.
Rachel
I have submitted my annual accounts to HMRC for our LLP , But I need to also send them to companies house. What form do I need please?
Thanks for the question!
You may find this useful: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/limited-liability-partnership-accounts-guidance/llp-accounts
“There are a variety of software providers which also offer a range of accounting packages which may be used for the preparation and filing of accounts. Most types of accounts can be software filed, depending on the functionality of the software package that you are using.”
We hope that helps!
Regards,
The Rapid Formations Team