Can a company with a Bounce Back Loan be dormant?

By Ben Davies · Updated 26 September 2026

Almost never while the loan is running. Having a Bounce Back Loan on the books does not by itself make a company non-dormant — but repaying it, and the interest it builds up every day, almost always does.

A company is dormant only if it has had no significant accounting transactions in the period.

• The loan is being repaid, from any account → a repayment from the company's account is a significant accounting transaction. A repayment you make personally still changes what the company owes and to whom — less to the lender, more to you — which the company has to record. Either way the company is not dormant. It files FRS 105 micro-entity accounts instead, showing the loan on a short balance sheet.
• Interest is added to the loan → that is a transaction too, whoever pays it.
• Nothing at all happens to the loan in the year — no repayment by anyone, no interest added → the company can stay dormant, and its dormant accounts show the loan as money it owes. Because interest builds up daily until the loan is repaid, that almost never happens while a Bounce Back Loan is running.

Either way, the company still has to file accounts every year while the loan is outstanding, and a CT600 whenever HMRC sends a notice to deliver one. Repaying a loan isn't income, and the loan interest is a cost, so there is no tax to pay.

For the full picture, see filing accounts for a non-trading company with a Bounce Back Loan, or a Bounce Back Loan and a dormant company.