DormantFile vs Inform Direct
Inform Direct is well-regarded company-secretarial software: share registers, board paperwork, statutory books, with dormant and micro-entity accounts filing as one feature among many. The gap for a dormant company is the other half of the job — it doesn't submit your CT600, so HMRC's side stays yours to sort separately. We cover less of the secretarial world and more of the filing one: both returns, one flow, plus the watching and reminding in between.
| What you get | DormantFile | Inform Direct |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts to Companies House | Yes | Yes |
| CT600 to HMRC | Yes | You file it yourself |
| Micro-entity (FRS 105) | Yes | Yes |
| How you file | Direct, self-serve — both sides in one flow, plus free deadline watchdog, hijack alerts and optional autopilot | Self-serve company-secretarial software |
| Price | from £19/yr (total, no VAT) | £25/filing (ex VAT; micro-entity £45) |
Prices and features as published by each provider and verified in August 2026 — please check Inform Direct for the latest, as these change. DormantFile isn’t VAT registered, so our price is the total you pay; competitor prices are shown as published, excluding VAT where stated. See the full comparison table.
Which should you use?
Choose Inform Direct if…
- You run real company-secretarial work — share transfers, registers, board minutes — especially across several companies, and filing accounts is a side benefit.
- You're an agent or practice managing statutory books, where their per-company toolkit earns its keep.
Choose DormantFile if…
- Your dormant company's whole year is two filings, and you want both of them — Companies House and the HMRC nil CT600 — done in the same ten minutes.
- You want the between-filing layer included: deadline ladder, daily register watch with hijack alerts, strike-off warnings, optional autopilot.
- You'd rather pay a flat yearly amount than per filing, with rejected submissions refiled at no extra charge — the subscription covers every attempt.
Questions, answered
- Does Inform Direct file the CT600 for a dormant company?
- No — their accounts filing covers the Companies House side, and the Corporation Tax return remains yours to deal with. DormantFile files the nil CT600 to HMRC as part of the same flow as your accounts.
- We already use Inform Direct for our statutory books — can we still use DormantFile?
- Yes, and it's a sensible split: keep your registers and secretarial records where they are, and use DormantFile for the annual filings and monitoring. We read everything we need from Companies House, so there's nothing to migrate.
What you’d actually be using
A company’s overview page — the real screen, not a mock-up. Click to enlarge.
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