Bounce Back Loan and a dormant company: what you need to know

By DormantFile · Updated 29 March 2026

During COVID, the government's Bounce Back Loan Scheme helped hundreds of thousands of small companies survive. Many of those companies later stopped trading and became dormant. The loan, however, did not go away.

If this is your situation — a dormant company with an outstanding Bounce Back Loan — you are not alone. But you are stuck, at least for now. Here is what that means for your filing obligations.

Can you close a company with an outstanding BBL?

In practice, no.

To close a company voluntarily, you apply to Companies House using form DS01. As part of that process, you must notify all creditors within 7 days. Your BBL lender is a creditor. Once notified, the lender can — and almost certainly will — object to the strike-off during the two-month Gazette notice period.

Even if no objection were filed, dissolving a company while it owes money is not straightforward. Any remaining debts do not vanish when a company is dissolved. Creditors can apply to have the company restored to the register specifically to pursue what they are owed.

Until the BBL is repaid (or formally written off), the company needs to stay on the Companies House register. For more on the DS01 process, see our guide on how to close a dormant company.

What happens if you just stop filing?

It is tempting to think that if you ignore the company, the problem goes away. It does not.

If you stop filing, two things happen:

Penalties accumulate. Late filing penalties from Companies House start at £150 and can reach £1,500 per year. HMRC adds its own penalties for overdue CT600 returns. These are issued to the company, but as the director, they are effectively your problem.
Companies House may strike the company off. If accounts or confirmation statements are persistently overdue, Companies House can begin compulsory strike-off. But here is the critical part: dissolution does not cancel the BBL. The lender can apply to restore the company to the register to recover the debt. And if you signed a personal guarantee (which was not required for BBLs, but some directors gave one for other borrowing), that liability survives regardless of what happens to the company.

Letting the company lapse does not help. It just adds penalties and complications on top of the debt you already owe.

Your annual obligations while the BBL is outstanding

While the company remains on the register, you must file every year:

Annual dormant accounts with Companies House — due 9 months after your accounting reference date.
A nil CT600 with HMRC — due 12 months after the end of the accounting period. Only required if the company is registered for Corporation Tax. Not sure? See do I need to file a CT600?
A confirmation statement (CS01) — due at least every 12 months. Filed directly with Companies House (£34 online).

See our guide on dormant company filing deadlines for the full calendar.

Important: A Bounce Back Loan does not affect your company's dormant status. Dormancy under section 1169 of the Companies Act 2006 is about whether the company has had significant accounting transactions during the period. Making loan repayments from the director's personal funds (not through the company bank account) does not count as a company transaction. If the company itself has done nothing — no income, no expenditure through its own accounts — it is still dormant for filing purposes.

If the company is making repayments from its own bank account, that is a significant accounting transaction and the company is not dormant. You would need an accountant to prepare proper accounts.

How to keep costs to a minimum

Your company earns nothing, so every pound matters. The good news: keeping a genuinely dormant company compliant does not need to be expensive.

DormantFile: £19/year for both annual accounts and nil CT600 filing.
Confirmation statement: £34/year via Companies House WebFiling.
Total: £53/year to stay fully compliant.

Compare that to an accountant at £80–£150+ per company per year. For a company that has zero activity, the simpler route saves real money.

For a full cost comparison, see how much it costs to file dormant accounts. For a complete compliance checklist, see our guide on keeping your dormant company compliant without an accountant.

Once the BBL is repaid

When the loan is fully repaid, you have two options:

Close the company. Apply to strike off using DS01 (£33 filing fee). With no creditors left to object, the process takes about 3 months. See how to close a dormant company.
Keep it dormant. If you might use the company in future, or want to protect the name, keep filing each year. At £53/year total, the cost of keeping it open is modest.

When to get professional advice

DormantFile handles your filing obligations. We do not provide debt advice, and we are not qualified to do so. Speak to a professional if:

You cannot keep up with BBL repayments. The British Business Bank's Pay As You Grow options may still apply — extended terms, interest-only periods, or a six-month payment holiday. Your lender can confirm what is available.
You are considering insolvency. If the company's debts are unmanageable, a licensed insolvency practitioner can advise on your options. This is specialist territory.
The lender is pursuing action. If you have received formal demands or legal proceedings, get legal advice before doing anything else.
You are not sure whether the company is dormant. If there is any doubt about whether the company qualifies as dormant — for instance, if loan repayments are being made from the company's own bank account — you need an accountant.

Key points

You cannot dissolve a company with an outstanding Bounce Back Loan. The lender can object to voluntary strike-off and can apply to restore a dissolved company.
Stopping filing does not help. Penalties accumulate and the debt remains.
While the BBL is outstanding, you must file annual accounts, a nil CT600 (if registered for CT), and a confirmation statement every year.
A BBL does not affect dormant status — provided repayments are not made through the company's own bank account.
Total annual compliance cost: £53 (DormantFile at £19 + CS01 at £34).
Once the loan is repaid, you can close the company or continue filing.
If repayments are unmanageable, speak to a licensed insolvency practitioner — not an accountant, and not us.