About DormantFile

Why DormantFile exists

Ben built DormantFile out of necessity. He runs several dormant limited companies in the UK — holding structures, side projects that never launched, companies kept open for future plans. Every year, each one still has paperwork due:

Annual accounts to Companies House
A Company Tax Return showing nothing to pay (a nil CT600) to HMRC, whenever HMRC writes asking for one
A confirmation statement — the yearly check that the company's details on the register are right — and now identity checks for its directors and people with significant control (its owners or controllers)

The companies don't trade, but the paperwork never stops.

For years, HMRC's free filing service (CATO) handled the accounts and the tax return together. It wasn't pretty, but it worked and it cost nothing. When HMRC announced CATO was closing — it closed on 31 March 2026 — the alternatives were bleak: hire an accountant at £80–£300 per company per year for a return with nothing to pay, or buy general-purpose accounting software built for businesses that trade.

Neither option made sense. So we built DormantFile.

What DormantFile does

DormantFile files your dormant company's accounts and tax return, and watches the rest of its year — deadlines, the confirmation statement, directors' identity checks and the public register — and helps with any letter you photograph.

The two filings go straight to the source:

Annual accounts — prepared and sent straight to Companies House through its own filing route for software.
Company Tax Return (CT600) — prepared and sent straight to HMRC, with the accounts attached. It's a nil return: no taxable profit and no tax to pay.

Dormant doesn't mean empty. A company is dormant when it has no significant accounting transactions in the year (no money in or out of its books) — not when its balance sheet is blank. If your company traded once and still owes money, is owed money or holds assets, it can still be dormant, and its dormant accounts show those figures, unchanged through a year in which nothing happened — as long as nothing about them changes in the year: nothing paid or collected, no interest added, nothing written off or written down. We file those accounts too. You enter the figures, or start from the ones in the company's last accounts on the public register, and check them before you go on. Next year, if those accounts went through DormantFile, the figures carry forward on their own. And if the company has only ever had its share capital, its accounts say just that.

If your company is not trading but has a transaction or two on its books, most often a Bounce Back Loan it's repaying, it can't file as dormant; we file short micro-entity accounts (FRS 105) instead, with a balance sheet showing the loan. Either way the tax return shows nothing to pay — no trading profit, no tax. DormantFile handles the technical files, the filing and the confirmation — you just review and click to file.

If you're behind, we find every year the company hasn't filed, back to incorporation, so you can catch up in one sitting. Once you're up to date, annual autopilot can prepare each year's dormant accounts and file them when you confirm by email.

LLPs work the same way, with two differences. A designated member (one of the members responsible for the LLP's filings) approves the accounts rather than a director. And there's no Company Tax Return at all — an LLP is taxed as a partnership, so the only HMRC return is the Partnership Tax Return (SA800), showing nothing to pay, and only for the tax years HMRC actually writes to ask for. If a letter lands, switch on the Partnership Tax Return in Settings and we file it: members confirmed, statement included.

We file dormant LLP accounts, and short micro-entity LLP accounts (FRS 105) where the LLP isn't trading but has something on its books — a loan being repaid, bank charges, members' capital moving. Those show loans and other debts due to members, and members' other interests, in place of share capital. The micro-entities regime has applied to LLPs since 2016. Trading LLPs are still an accountant's job.

Community interest companies get half of what they need from us, and we'd rather say so upfront. The nil Company Tax Return, yes — there's no CIC box on the CT600, so a CIC's return goes to HMRC exactly like any other company's. The accounts, no. Companies House will only take those alongside a community interest report (form CIC34) and a £15 fee, by post or through its own CIC service, and no filing software — ours or anyone else's — can send that package. So we file the tax return, track both deadlines, and point you at the right route for the accounts rather than pretending we cover them.

Around the filings, we watch the rest of the year. The reminders and the register checks are free for one company on our Watchdog plan, and come with every paid plan.

Deadline reminders at 90, 30, 14, 7, 3, and 1 days before your accounts and confirmation statement deadlines — and we remind you about any Corporation Tax or partnership return deadline you add. There's a calendar feed too.
The confirmation statement — we work out when it's due and remind you. We don't file it.
Directors' identity checks — we read from the register which directors and people with significant control have verified their identity with Companies House, and remind you about anyone who hasn't before their date. We don't verify anyone ourselves.
The public register — a daily check for changes you didn't make to your company's directors, address, owners or name, which is how a company hijack shows up, and for strike-off notices in the Gazette (the official public record where they're published) while there's still time to object.

And help when something arrives.

Letters — photograph a letter from HMRC or Companies House and the letter decoder tells you what it is, what's due and what we can do about it.
Penalty appeals — if it's a penalty, we check it against your records for grounds to appeal and can write the appeal letter for you, for £9.99 a letter on any plan. Whether an appeal succeeds is up to HMRC or Companies House.
The assistant — on a paid plan, it answers questions from your company's own filing data. It's software, not advice.

Who DormantFile is for

Dormant limited companies — including ones still carrying figures from the years they traded.
Non-trading companies with a transaction or two, like a Bounce Back Loan being repaid.
Dormant and non-trading LLPs.
Flat management and right-to-manage (RTM) companies (companies limited by guarantee — no shares).
Community interest companies — for the tax return only, as above.
Accountants and agents looking after a number of these, on our Agent plan.

It isn't for trading companies or LLPs, for any return with profit to declare or tax to pay, or for full, small-company (FRS 102) or audited accounts. We don't do VAT, payroll or directors' Self Assessment.

Who we are

DormantFile is built and run by Ben Davies, a UK software engineer — not an accountant. He runs several dormant companies of his own, which is why any of this exists.

Worth being clear about what that means: DormantFile is software. It prepares your filings and sends them, but it doesn't give accounting or tax advice. If your company is actively trading, talk to a qualified accountant. Not sure which kind of accounts it should file? When you file, we ask whether any money moved in or out during the year, and your answer decides dormant or micro-entity accounts. Our free Am I dormant? checker asks the same kind of questions before you sign up.

Our approach

Affordable — from £19/year, because a company that isn't trading shouldn't cost a fortune to look after. See our pricing for details.
Secure — your HMRC login is used once to send your filing and then deleted. We never store it. Your Companies House authentication code (the 6-character code Companies House posts to your registered office) is stored only if you choose to save it — encrypted at rest and never logged. You can see whether it is stored and remove it any time from the company's settings. Read our security page for the full details.
Simple — no features you don't need. No invoicing, no payroll, no VAT. Just the accounts and tax return a dormant or non-trading company files each year, and the deadlines around them. See how it works for a walkthrough.