Companies House urges businesses to file accounts online ahead of December deadline

Companies House is urging business owners to ensure their annual accounts are filed on time to avoid any penalties.

All limited companies, including dormant companies, are required to submit annual accounts to Companies House each year, whether they trade or not. It’s the directors’ responsibility to file a company’s accounts, even if an accountant is tasked to do this on their behalf, and the penalties for not delivering accounts on time include a criminal record, fine or disqualification from running a company.

Businesses are being encouraged to use Companies House’s new online services to file their details, which include inbuilt checks to help catch any mistakes in submissions. Filing accounts can be done in just 15 minutes, with businesses receiving email confirmation that they have been received.

To file online, businesses will need their company authentication code. If requesting a new code, allow up to 5 days for this to arrive at the company’s registered office.

Businesses should only send paper accounts if a company cannot file online – these need to be manually checked, and enough time ahead of the deadline should be allowed in case of any rejections.

Companies House introduced the new WebFiling account in September. It has improved security features and gives business owners more freedom to self-manage their account.