Companies House & HMRC news

Updated Companies House guidance published on 9 June 2026 confirms that from 1 April 2028 every company must file its annual accounts using commercial software. The free web-based and paper accounts routes will close on that date.

The same reform package removes the option to file abridged accounts and requires small companies and micro-entities to file a profit and loss account, and (for small companies) a directors’ report, for the first time. Companies House says affected businesses will get further detail and support before the change.

From 6 April 2026, sole traders and landlords with qualifying gross income above £50,000 must keep digital records and send quarterly updates to HMRC through Making Tax Digital (MTD) compatible software, replacing the annual Self Assessment return with a year-end final declaration.

HMRC used 2024/25 Self Assessment returns filed by 31 January 2026 to identify who is in scope and has been writing to affected taxpayers. The threshold falls to £30,000 from April 2027 and to £20,000 from April 2028.

From 6 April 2026, where a worker is supplied through an umbrella company, responsibility for operating PAYE and accounting for the correct Income Tax and National Insurance moves to the recruitment agency that has the contract with the end client (or to the end client where there is no agency).

The change is aimed at tax non-compliance in the umbrella market. Businesses that engage temporary labour through umbrellas need to know which entity in the chain now carries the PAYE liability.

The CATO service, which let small companies file accounts with Companies House and a Company Tax Return with HMRC together, closed on 31 March 2026. Companies that used it must move to commercial software or file each return separately through the relevant service.

The closure is part of the wider move towards software filing at Companies House and Making Tax Digital at HMRC.

A further set of Companies House fee changes took effect on 1 February 2026. Companies House reviews its fees so that the money collected covers the cost of the services it provides, including the new powers and checks introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.

Always check the current fee for a transaction on the official fees page before budgeting for incorporations, confirmation statements or change filings.

The deadline to file the 2024/25 Self Assessment tax return online and pay any tax owed was 31 January 2026. HMRC charges an automatic £100 penalty for a return that is even one day late, with further daily and percentage-based penalties and interest after that.

For many sole traders and landlords, the 2024/25 return was also the return HMRC used to decide whether Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies from April 2026.

From 18 November 2025, identity verification is a legal requirement under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. New directors and people with significant control (PSCs) must verify before or at the point of appointment, and anyone incorporating a company must be verified.

For existing directors and PSCs there is a 12-month transition. Existing directors are expected to give their Companies House personal code when the company files its next confirmation statement on or after 18 November 2025, and Companies House has said a confirmation statement cannot be filed unless the directors who need to verify have done so.

From 18 November 2025, companies are no longer required to keep their own registers of directors, directors’ residential addresses, secretaries and PSCs. That information is held and maintained centrally by Companies House instead.

Companies must still notify Companies House of changes promptly, and the register of members (shareholders) requirements are unchanged.

Companies House guidance is that, during the transition, an existing director must give their personal code on the company’s first confirmation statement filed on or after 18 November 2025, and a confirmation statement cannot be filed while a director who is required to verify has not done so.

A person who is both a director and a PSC has to satisfy the verification requirement for each role.

Alongside the verification changes, individuals can apply to suppress certain personal information from the public register, such as day of birth on documents registered before 2015, signatures, business occupation, and residential addresses used as a registered office in defined circumstances.

Some suppression rights are automatic and some require an application with supporting evidence.

Once a person verifies their identity, Companies House issues an 11-character personal code linked to that verified identity. The same code is reused across every appointment the person holds; they do not verify again for each company.

The personal code is sensitive filing information. Companies House guidance is that it should not be published, shared in support tickets or left in screenshots.

From 31 August 2025, certain trust information held on the Register of Overseas Entities became available to third parties on request, subject to a protection-application process for individuals at risk of harm which opened earlier in 2025.

Overseas entities that own UK property must also complete an annual update statement to keep their registration valid.

From 8 April 2025, individuals could verify their identity with Companies House on a voluntary basis, either directly through GOV.UK One Login or through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider, before verification became compulsory on 18 November 2025.

Verifying early let directors and PSCs obtain their personal code in advance and spread the work across the transition period.

From 6 April 2025, the main rate of employer (secondary Class 1) National Insurance rose from 13.8% to 15%, and the secondary threshold at which employers start paying dropped from £9,100 to £5,000 a year.

To partly offset this for smaller employers, the Employment Allowance increased from £5,000 to £10,500 and the previous £100,000 employer-NIC eligibility cap was removed.

The special tax rules for furnished holiday lettings (FHL) were abolished from 6 April 2025 for Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax (1 April 2025 for Corporation Tax). Former FHL properties are now taxed as an ordinary UK or overseas property business.

This removes benefits such as unrestricted finance-cost relief, capital allowances on furniture and equipment, and certain CGT reliefs for these lettings.

From 6 April 2025, the remittance basis for non-UK domiciled individuals was abolished and replaced by a residence-based regime, including a four-year foreign income and gains (FIG) regime for people who become UK resident after a period of non-residence.

Transitional rules apply for individuals who previously used the remittance basis. The change also affects how inheritance tax connects to long-term UK residence.

For financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2025, the monetary size thresholds that determine whether a company is micro-entity, small, medium or large were increased by about 50%, following changes to the Companies Act 2006.

More companies now fall into the micro-entity or small brackets, which affects the level of statutory accounts detail filed at Companies House and, in some cases, whether an audit is required.

From 6 April 2025, HMRC’s late-payment interest rate rose to the Bank of England base rate plus 4 percentage points (previously base plus 2.5), making it more expensive to pay tax late across most taxes, including Corporation Tax, VAT and Self Assessment.

Repayment interest paid by HMRC remained at base rate minus 1% (with a 0.5% floor).

From 6 April 2025, eligible employed parents gained a new day-one right to Neonatal Care Leave of up to 12 weeks when a baby is admitted to neonatal care, with Statutory Neonatal Care Pay for those who meet the qualifying conditions.

Employers need payroll and HR processes that recognise the new leave type alongside maternity, paternity and shared parental leave.

From 1 April 2025, the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over increased to £12.21 an hour, with larger percentage increases for 18–20 year olds and apprentices.

Combined with the higher employer National Insurance rate and lower secondary threshold from 6 April 2025, this raised employment costs for many small businesses.

HMRC no longer accepts paper P11D and P11D(b) forms. Employers reporting expenses and benefits that are not payrolled must use HMRC’s PAYE Online service or commercial payroll software, with a filing deadline of 6 July after the tax year.

Class 1A National Insurance on those benefits is payable by 22 July (19 July for postal payments).

The temporary Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) thresholds in England and Northern Ireland ended on 31 March 2025. From 1 April 2025 the nil-rate band returned to £125,000, and first-time buyers’ relief applies up to £300,000 (with relief tapering to £500,000).

The 5% surcharge for additional dwellings and the higher rates for companies and non-residents continue to apply on top of the standard rates.

HMRC announced that the requirement to report and tax most employee benefits in kind through payroll in real time, originally due from April 2026, is deferred to 6 April 2027.

Employers can still choose to payroll benefits voluntarily before then by registering with HMRC before the start of the tax year. P11D and P11D(b) forms must be submitted online.

From 25 February 2025, company formation agents, accountants, legal advisers and other intermediaries could register as Authorised Corporate Service Providers. An ACSP is supervised for anti-money-laundering purposes and can verify identities and, in due course, file on behalf of clients.

Companies House has said that once transition ends, filings made on behalf of a company will need to go through a registered ACSP.

For disposals made on or after 30 October 2024, the main rates of Capital Gains Tax on assets other than residential property rose from 10% and 20% to 18% and 24%, aligning them with the residential-property rates.

Business Asset Disposal Relief kept its £1 million lifetime limit but its rate rose to 14% from 6 April 2025 and is set to rise to 18% from 6 April 2026.

Alongside the Autumn Budget 2024, the government published a Corporate Tax Roadmap committing to cap the main rate of Corporation Tax at 25% for the duration of the Parliament and to maintain the small profits rate, marginal relief, the Annual Investment Allowance and full expensing.

The roadmap is a statement of intent rather than legislation, but it is aimed at giving companies more certainty for investment planning.

From 2 May 2024, regulations gave Companies House the power to impose civil financial penalties of up to £10,000 for certain offences under the Companies Act 2006, as an alternative to criminal prosecution.

This sits alongside the existing separate late filing penalty regime for accounts delivered after the deadline.

Companies House increased most of its fees on 1 May 2024, its first significant fee rise in years, to fund new investigation and enforcement powers. The digital incorporation fee rose to £50 and the digital confirmation statement fee to £34.

The fees are set on a cost-recovery basis and Companies House has said they will be reviewed regularly.

From 6 April 2024, self-employed people with profits above the small profits threshold no longer pay compulsory flat-rate Class 2 National Insurance but still build up entitlement to the State Pension and contributory benefits.

Those with profits below the small profits threshold can still pay Class 2 voluntarily to protect their contribution record. The main rate of Class 4 NIC was also cut to 6%.

From 6 April 2024, the tax-free dividend allowance halved from £1,000 to £500, and the Capital Gains Tax annual exempt amount fell from £6,000 to £3,000.

The reductions pull more investors, shareholders in owner-managed companies and people selling assets into filing a Self Assessment return.

From the 2024/25 tax year, unincorporated businesses are taxed on the profits arising in the tax year itself, rather than on the profits of an accounting period ending in the tax year. 2023/24 was the transition year.

Businesses that do not draw accounts to 31 March or 5 April now have to apportion results from two sets of accounts, or change their accounting date. Transition profits are spread over up to five years.

From 6 April 2024, the income level at which the High Income Child Benefit Charge starts rose from £50,000 to £60,000, and the charge is now tapered fully by £80,000 rather than £60,000.

Families who previously opted out of Child Benefit payments because of the charge were able to restart them.

A company that is dormant for Companies House purposes must still file dormant company accounts and a confirmation statement every year. A company that is dormant or non-trading for Corporation Tax must tell HMRC, and may still need to file a Company Tax Return if HMRC issues a notice to deliver one.

"Dormant" does not mean "no obligations", and repeated failure to file can lead to penalties and strike-off.

From 1 April 2024, the VAT registration threshold increased from £85,000 to £90,000 of taxable turnover in a rolling 12-month period, and the deregistration threshold rose from £83,000 to £88,000.

Businesses still have to monitor turnover on a rolling basis, not just at the year end, and register within 30 days of the month in which they exceed the threshold.

For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2024, the SME R&D scheme and the R&D Expenditure Credit (RDEC) were combined into a single merged scheme, with a separate enhanced regime for R&D-intensive loss-making SMEs.

Claims also face tighter rules, including advance notification for some claimants and a mandatory additional information form.

The first tranche of changes under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 took effect on 4 March 2024. Companies House gained powers to query and reject information, request evidence, annotate the register and share data with law enforcement and other government bodies.

This marked the start of Companies House moving from a passive registry to an active gatekeeper of the information on the register.

From 4 March 2024, every company must have an "appropriate" registered office address at all times — an address where documents can be expected to reach a person acting for the company and where delivery can be acknowledged. A PO Box alone is no longer acceptable.

Companies House can change the address of a company that appears not to have an appropriate one, and can ultimately start strike-off action.

From 4 March 2024, new companies must give Companies House a registered email address on incorporation, and existing companies must provide one when they file their next confirmation statement. The email address is not published on the public register.

Companies House uses the address to contact the company, so it needs to be monitored and kept up to date.

From 4 March 2024, subscribers must confirm on incorporation that they are forming the company for a lawful purpose, and every company must confirm on its confirmation statement that its intended future activities are lawful.

A company that does not make the confirmation cannot file its confirmation statement, which in turn can lead to enforcement action.

From 4 March 2024, Companies House has wider powers to reject or direct a change to company names that are intended to facilitate fraud, are misleading, or suggest a false connection with a public authority.

It can also act against names used to influence or intimidate, and can substitute a registered number-based name where a company fails to comply with a direction.

In January 2024 Companies House set out its implementation plan for the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, confirming that the first measures would begin on 4 March 2024 and that identity verification, ACSP registration and accounts filing reform would follow in stages.

The phased approach was designed to give companies, agents and software providers time to prepare for each change.

Since 1 April 2023, the main rate of Corporation Tax has been 25% for profits over £250,000, with a 19% small profits rate for profits up to £50,000 and marginal relief tapering between the two.

The £50,000 and £250,000 limits are divided by the number of associated companies, so group and connected-company structures can push a company into a higher effective rate.

For companies, "full expensing" allows a 100% first-year deduction for qualifying new plant and machinery, and a 50% first-year allowance for special-rate assets. The Autumn Statement 2023 made the relief permanent.

The Annual Investment Allowance also gives a 100% deduction for the first £1 million of qualifying expenditure and is available to unincorporated businesses too.

Since April 2022, all VAT-registered businesses — regardless of turnover — must keep digital VAT records and file VAT returns using MTD-compatible software with digital links between systems.

This is the model that Making Tax Digital for Income Tax now extends to sole traders and landlords from April 2026.

Since 30 June 2016, companies file an annual confirmation statement (CS01) instead of an annual return. The statement confirms that the information Companies House holds — officers, registered office, PSCs, shareholders and SIC codes — is up to date.

Every company, including dormant and non-trading companies, must file at least one confirmation statement in each 12-month review period, and can do so up to 14 days after the period ends.

Since April 2016, companies and LLPs must identify and record people with significant control — broadly those holding more than 25% of shares or voting rights, or who otherwise exercise significant influence or control — and report them to Companies House.

PSC information is now maintained centrally by Companies House, and PSCs are within the scope of identity verification.

Incorporating at Companies House does not by itself deal with tax. A new company is usually registered for Corporation Tax automatically when it incorporates online, but it must still tell HMRC when it becomes active, and register separately for PAYE if it employs staff and for VAT if it meets the threshold.

Keeping the two registers consistent — registered office, company name, accounting dates and officers — avoids correspondence going astray.

Company Tax Returns (CT600) must be filed online with accounts and computations tagged in iXBRL, and Corporation Tax must be paid electronically. The return is normally due 12 months after the end of the accounting period, but the tax is due 9 months and 1 day after the period end for most companies.

Large companies pay Corporation Tax in quarterly instalments, and "very large" companies pay earlier still.

A private company normally has 9 months from the end of its accounting reference period to deliver acceptable accounts to Companies House; a public company has 6 months. First accounts are generally due 21 months after incorporation.

Different rules apply when the accounting reference date is changed, and the deadline can move earlier if the period is shortened.

Companies House charges an automatic penalty when accounts are filed after the deadline: for a private company, £150 up to one month late, £375 up to three months, £750 up to six months and £1,500 more than six months late. Public company penalties are higher.

The penalty doubles if a company files late in two consecutive financial years. The deadline itself is not extended by filing at another registry or by internal sign-off.

Companies House has indicated that, no earlier than late 2026, identity verification will be required for any individual who files documents at Companies House ("presenters"), and that filings made on behalf of companies will need to be routed through a registered Authorised Corporate Service Provider.

The 12-month transition period for existing directors and PSCs to verify is also expected to end around this time, after which Companies House can take enforcement action against those who have not verified.

From 6 April 2027, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is due to extend to sole traders and landlords with qualifying income above £30,000. A further reduction to £20,000 is planned for April 2028.

Businesses approaching the threshold should keep their bookkeeping in MTD-compatible software so the move to quarterly updates is not disruptive.

From 1 April 2028, Companies House plans to withdraw the free web-based accounts service and paper accounts filing entirely. All accounts will have to be filed as iXBRL data through commercial software.

Companies and their advisers are encouraged to choose and test filing software well before the deadline rather than close to it.