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

By Ben Davies · Updated 5 October 2026

Stop keeping this deadline in your head

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 add up. Companies House charges a late filing penalty for each set of late accounts — from £150 up to £1,500 depending on how late they are, doubled if the previous year's were late too. 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 accounts with Companies House — due 9 months after your accounting reference date. FRS 105 micro-entity accounts for any year the loan was repaid or charged interest; dormant accounts only for a year in which nothing happened to it.
A CT600 with HMRC whenever it sends a notice to deliver one — due 12 months after the end of the accounting period. With the loan as the only activity, there's no tax to pay. Not sure whether you need one? See do I need to file a CT600?
A confirmation statement (CS01) — due at least every 12 months. Filed directly with Companies House (£50 online).

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

Important: A Bounce Back Loan sitting on the books doesn't, by itself, stop a company being dormant. Dormancy under section 1169 of the Companies Act 2006 is about whether the company has had significant accounting transactions during the period. But a loan that is being repaid almost always creates them. A repayment from the company's bank account is a transaction. A repayment the director makes personally still changes what the company owes and to whom — less to the lender, more to the director — and the company has to record that. And the loan builds up interest, whoever pays it. So while a BBL is being repaid, expect to file FRS 105 micro-entity accounts rather than dormant ones. DormantFile files either kind, and you choose the type for each year when you file.

If the company is making repayments from its own bank account, that is a significant accounting transaction and the company is not dormant. That doesn't mean you need a full accountant, though. A non-trading company in this position files FRS 105 micro-entity accounts — a short balance sheet that shows the loan — instead of dormant accounts. There's still no tax to pay on the CT600. DormantFile files these too: see filing accounts for a non-trading company with a Bounce Back Loan.

How to keep costs to a minimum

Your company earns nothing, so every pound matters. The good news: keeping a company like this up to date does not need to be expensive.

DormantFile: £19/year for both the annual accounts and the CT600.
Confirmation statement: £50/year, filed with Companies House.
Total: £69/year for all three yearly filings.

Compare that to an accountant at £80–£150+ per company per year. For a company with no trade, 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 (£13 filing fee), as long as, in the three months before you apply, the company hasn't traded, changed its name or done anything beyond winding up its affairs. 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 £69/year total, the cost of keeping it open is modest.

When to get professional advice

DormantFile files the company's accounts and CT600. 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.
The company has income as well as the loan. If it earns interest, rent or dividends, there may be tax to pay — speak to an accountant. If it is genuinely just the loan, you don't need one — the company files micro-entity accounts rather than dormant ones, and DormantFile handles that.

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. Each late set of accounts brings its own penalty, and the debt remains.
While the BBL is outstanding, you must file annual accounts and a confirmation statement every year, and a CT600 whenever HMRC sends a notice to deliver one.
A BBL on the books doesn't by itself end dormancy, but repaying it does — whether from the company's account or the director's own pocket — and so does interest added to it.
A company repaying a BBL is non-trading rather than dormant: file FRS 105 micro-entity accounts instead, which DormantFile also handles.
Total annual compliance cost: £69 (DormantFile at £19 + CS01 at £50).
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.