Can a CIC file dormant company accounts?
By Ben Davies · Updated 5 October 2026
We file a CIC's tax return — not its accounts
See what we cover for CICsNot the way an ordinary limited company can. A dormant community interest company still has to file annual accounts every year, but it cannot file them through filing software — Companies House accepts no CIC accounts that way, from DormantFile or anyone else — and it can't use the short dormant accounts form (AA02), on paper or online.
Instead, every CIC — dormant or trading — must deliver its accounts together with a CIC34 community interest report and a £15 fee, as one package. That package goes by post, or through Companies House's own online CIC service (which supports full and package accounts, so a dormant CIC using it prepares its figures in full format rather than the short dormant format).
The accounts themselves follow the same rules as any dormant company's accounts, and the deadline is the usual 9 months after year end with the same late filing penalties. It is only the route — report, fee, package — that is different.
So DormantFile can't file a CIC's accounts — but it does file the CIC's Company Tax Return, which faces no such block.
Read the full guide: How to file CIC accounts — including for a dormant CIC