How to catch up on overdue dormant company filings

By DormantFile · Updated 29 March 2026

If your dormant company has fallen behind on its filings, you are not alone. It is one of the most common situations we see — the company does nothing, the deadline slips by, and suddenly you are a year or more behind with penalties stacking up.

The important thing: you can fix this. Companies House and HMRC both accept late filings. There is no cut-off point where you lose the ability to file. The sooner you do it, the sooner the penalties stop getting worse.

Check where you stand

Before filing anything, find out exactly what is overdue.

Companies House: Search for your company on the Companies House register. Your filing history shows every submission and every deadline. If accounts are overdue, you will see a "FILING OVERDUE" notice. Check your accounting reference date to work out which periods are missing. Our free Companies House audit does this for you — enter a company number and it lists overdue filings, strike-off risk, and ECCTA status in one report.

HMRC: Log in to your Government Gateway account and check your Corporation Tax overview. It shows which CT600 returns have been filed and which are outstanding. Any penalty notices will also appear here.

The penalties you have already incurred

Late filing penalties are automatic. They cannot be appealed simply because the company was dormant. If the deadline has passed, the penalty has been issued.

Companies House penalties range from £150 to £1,500 per year depending on how late you are. They double if you are late two consecutive years. Our free late filing penalty calculator shows the exact figure for your situation.
HMRC penalties start at £100 for the first day late and increase over time.

Full details in our late filing penalties guide.

The good news: filing now stops further penalties accumulating. You cannot undo penalties already issued, but you can prevent the next ones from landing and avoid compulsory strike-off.

Can you still file late?

Yes. Both Companies House and HMRC accept late filings at any time. There is no point at which you are "too late" to file. The penalties have already been triggered, but the filing itself will still be processed and recorded.

Filing overdue returns is always better than not filing at all. Not filing risks strike-off, escalating HMRC enquiries, and estimated tax assessments. Filing late draws a line under it.

What order to file in

If you are multiple periods behind, file in chronological order — oldest period first.

Companies House requires annual accounts to be filed sequentially. You cannot file the 2025 accounts until the 2024 accounts have been filed and accepted. The same applies to CT600 returns at HMRC.

Work through each period in turn, starting from the earliest outstanding one.

How to file multiple overdue periods

For a genuinely dormant company, each period's filing is straightforward. The accounts are a standard nil balance sheet. The CT600 reports zero income and zero tax. There is nothing to calculate.

With DormantFile, each filing takes about two minutes:

Add your company (if you have not already).
Select the overdue accounting period.
Enter your credentials and submit.
Move on to the next period.

Three years behind on both filings? That is six submissions — done in under 15 minutes. Each one is confirmed in your dashboard as it is accepted.

Step-by-step instructions: how to file dormant company accounts and how to file a nil CT600.

After you have caught up

Once everything is filed and accepted:

Your Companies House record shows up to date. No more "FILING OVERDUE" notices.
HMRC has your CT600 returns on file. No further penalties for those periods.
Your company is no longer at risk of compulsory strike-off.

Now the priority is making sure it does not happen again. DormantFile sends automatic email reminders at 90, 30, 14, 7, 3, and 1 day before each deadline. That is six reminders per filing — enough to catch even the busiest director. See how it works.

For a full calendar of what is due and when, see our guide on dormant company filing deadlines.

If the company was not dormant for all overdue periods

This is important. If the company was trading during any of the overdue periods — if it received income, made payments, or had any significant accounting transactions — you cannot file dormant accounts for those periods. You need an accountant to prepare proper accounts reflecting the trading activity.

DormantFile is only for genuinely dormant periods. If there is any doubt, see how to check if your company is dormant. If the company was dormant for some periods and trading for others, an accountant can advise on how to handle the split.

If strike-off proceedings have already started

If Companies House has begun compulsory strike-off — you may have received a warning letter or seen a notice in The Gazette — act quickly. Filing the overdue accounts should halt the process. Companies House generally suspends strike-off action once outstanding filings are received.

If the company has already been dissolved, restoration is possible but significantly more expensive (from £500 for administrative restoration, potentially thousands for court restoration). See our guide on what happens if Companies House strikes off your company.

The sooner you file, the simpler and cheaper it is to resolve. Do not wait.

Key points

Companies House and HMRC both accept late filings at any time. There is no "too late."
Filing now stops further penalties accumulating and prevents strike-off.
File in chronological order — oldest period first.
For a genuinely dormant company, each filing takes about two minutes. Multiple overdue periods can be cleared in a single sitting.
Already-issued penalties cannot be reversed, but you can prevent new ones.
If the company was not dormant for all overdue periods, you need an accountant for the trading periods.
If strike-off has already started, filing overdue accounts should halt the process. Act quickly.
Set up deadline reminders so it does not happen again.