Do I need an accountant for a dormant company?

By Ben Davies · Updated 5 October 2026

This is one of the most common questions we get. The short answer: a dormant company doesn't need one. DormantFile files its accounts and its nil CT600 for a fraction of an accountant's fee. An accountant earns their fee when the company has done something we don't file for: it traded, earned income, or has tax to pay.

When you do NOT need an accountant

If all of the following apply, the dormant company accounts and nil CT600 (a Company Tax Return showing no tax to pay) need no professional help. DormantFile files both:

• Your company is genuinely dormant. It has had no significant accounting transactions during the period — no invoices, no payments in or out, no bank interest.
• It meets the legal test. The definition is in section 1169 of the Companies Act 2006. Not sure? Our free dormancy checker gives you an answer in eight questions.
• The company has no bank account, or only a non-interest-bearing one. Bank interest counts as a significant accounting transaction. Even a few pence of interest means the company is not dormant.
• There are no transactions to report. No income, no expenditure, no director's loan movements, no dividends.
• The balance sheet hasn't moved. It shows only share capital, or figures left from trading years — money the company owes or is owed, assets it holds — that are exactly as they were at the last year end. Dormant doesn't mean empty: those figures go on the dormant accounts unchanged.
• Trading has stopped, or never started. It was incorporated and has sat idle ever since, or it traded in the past and all activity has stopped.

For companies like this, the filing itself is straightforward. Dormant accounts are a standard-format balance sheet: share capital only for a company that never traded, or the same figures as last year for one that did. A nil CT600 reports zero income and zero tax. DormantFile builds both from a few answers, so you don't need accounting knowledge.

When you DO need an accountant

You need an accountant when the company has done something DormantFile doesn't file for:

• The company partially traded during the period. If the company was active for part of the year and dormant for the rest, you cannot file dormant accounts for that period. You need proper accounts showing the trading activity.
• The company received any income. This includes bank interest, dividends from subsidiaries, rental income, or any other receipt. Even small amounts disqualify the company from dormant status, and its tax return has to report the income.
• The company's assets earned money, changed hands or need depreciating. Holding land, shares that haven't lost value, cash or stock doesn't by itself stop a company being dormant, as long as nothing about them changes in the year. But a building or equipment has to be depreciated every year, and that charge is an accounting entry that ends dormancy — unless the asset is already fully written down. Rent, interest or dividends from any asset, or buying or selling one in the year, are transactions too — you need proper accounts, and there may be tax to pay.
• A director's loan has a tax angle. An old director's loan balance that sat untouched all year still fits dormant accounts — it shows on the balance sheet, unchanged — and a loan simply being repaid is covered below. But a loan from the company to you can bring a section 455 tax charge, and interest or a write-off ends dormancy for that year and has tax consequences. See director's loans and dormant status.

The exception: a loan, and nothing else

There is one common case that breaks dormant status but does not need an accountant. If the company isn't trading and the only thing on its books is a loan being repaid — most often a Bounce Back Loan — it can't file dormant accounts, but it can file FRS 105 micro-entity accounts: a short balance sheet showing the loan, with a CT600 that shows no tax to pay. DormantFile handles those alongside dormant ones, so you pick the right type at filing time.

The line to watch is income. A loan repayment creates no taxable profit, but interest received, dividends, or rent do — and those are where an accountant earns their fee.

Cost comparison

For a single genuinely dormant company, an accountant typically charges £80--£150 per year. Some charge more. If you have several dormant companies, those fees multiply quickly.

DormantFile starts at £19/year for one company, or £39/year for up to 10 companies on the Multiple plan. Full details on our pricing page.

Not sure whether the company is dormant? That question doesn't need an accountant's fee. The free dormancy checker answers it for Companies House and HMRC separately, and the free company check shows what the register expects the company to file.

Our recommendation

We built DormantFile for a specific situation: dormant and non-trading companies where the director knows where the company stands and wants the yearly paperwork done — the accounts and nil CT600 filed, and the rest of the year watched: deadlines, the confirmation statement date, directors' identity checks and the public register.

If that describes your company, you do not need an accountant. DormantFile will do the job for a fraction of the cost. See how much it costs to file dormant accounts for a full breakdown.

What matters is filing the right kind of accounts. Filing dormant accounts for a company that is not actually dormant is a legal offence, so check first. A company that didn't trade but had a transaction or two — a loan being repaid, say — files micro-entity accounts instead, and DormantFile files those too. You choose the type for each year when you file.

Not sure where you stand? Our guide on how to check if your company is dormant walks through the common scenarios, and the free dormancy checker gives you an answer in eight questions.

For a complete breakdown of everything you need to file and the total annual cost, see our guide on keeping your dormant company compliant without an accountant.

Key points

• You do not need an accountant if your company is genuinely dormant: no transactions and no bank interest in the year. Figures carried unchanged from trading years don't change that.
• You do need one if the company traded, earned income, bought or sold assets, or has tax to pay. A loan being repaid doesn't count: DormantFile files micro-entity accounts for that.
• An accountant typically costs £80--£150+ per company per year. DormantFile starts at £19/year.
• Not sure the company is dormant? Run the free dormancy checker before you pay anyone.