Dormant company accounts on autopilot — how one-click filing works

By DormantFile · Updated 10 June 2026

A dormant company's accounts barely change from one year to the next. The balance sheet is the same, the dormancy statement is the same, the only thing that moves is the date. Yet every year you have to remember the deadline, dig out your Companies House authentication code, and go through the filing again — and if you forget, the penalties start at £150 and climb to £1,500.

Autopilot is DormantFile's answer to that: after your first successful filing, we prepare next year's dormant accounts for you, email you 30 days before the deadline, and file the moment you click confirm. One click a year.

How it works, step by step

You enable autopilot and choose to save your code. You can turn autopilot on for any company from its autopilot page or settings. If you choose to save your Companies House authentication code, we store it encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM. This only happens if you actively save it — if you never do, the code is never stored.
We email you 30 days before your accounts deadline. Dormant accounts are due 9 months after your accounting reference date, and we track that date for you. The email shows what's being filed and exactly what your click means.
One click confirms and files. You click the confirmation link, confirm the company is still dormant, and we submit the accounts to Companies House through their official software filing API.
We email you the result. Acceptance comes with your filing record. If Companies House rejects the filing for any reason, we email you the rejection reason and the period goes straight back into your normal deadline reminders so nothing slips.

Why one click, not zero clicks

Autopilot is deliberately not "fully automatic". Dormant accounts include a director's statement that the company was dormant throughout the period — no significant accounting transactions. That is a legal statement only you can make, and it has to be made fresh each year.

Your annual confirmation click is that statement. If the company has started trading, received bank interest, or done anything else that breaks dormancy, you simply don't click — log in and deal with the period manually instead. Nothing is ever filed without your confirmation.

What autopilot does not do

Two boundaries worth being clear about:

Dormant accounts only. Autopilot does not cover micro-entity accounts. Micro-entity accounts need fresh figures every year — a real balance sheet that changes — so there is nothing safe to pre-prepare. If your company files micro-entity accounts, we will always ask you for the numbers.
Never your CT600. Your Corporation Tax return is always filed by you, with your own HMRC Government Gateway login, and we never store those credentials. Autopilot covers the Companies House side only — see our guide on whether your dormant company needs a CT600.

What about security?

The authentication code acts as your company's online signature at Companies House, so storing it is not a decision to take lightly. The short version: saving it is your explicit choice, it is encrypted with AES-256-GCM and never logged, and you can see whether it is stored and remove it any time from the company's settings — removing it deletes it immediately and permanently and turns autopilot off. Turning autopilot off without removing the code keeps it saved so you can re-enable in one click. We've written an honest look at the trade-off in is it safe to save your Companies House authentication code? — and the full detail is on our security page.

Turning it on and off

You can turn autopilot on from the company's autopilot page or settings and manage it per company at any time. Turning autopilot off does not remove the stored code — it stays saved so you can re-enable in one click. To delete the code entirely, use the "Remove" option in the company's settings — this deletes it immediately and permanently and also turns autopilot off. Your filings then continue on the normal manual flow with the usual reminders.

Key points

After your first filing, autopilot handles next year's dormant accounts: an email 30 days before the deadline, one click to confirm, and the result emailed to you.
Your click is the director's annual dormancy confirmation — nothing files without it. One click a year, never zero.
Dormant accounts only. Micro-entity accounts need fresh figures yearly, and your CT600 is always filed by you.
Your authentication code is stored only if you choose to save it, encrypted with AES-256-GCM and never logged. You can remove it any time from the company's settings — removing it deletes it immediately and permanently and turns autopilot off.
If a filing is rejected, you get the reason by email and the period re-enters your reminders.
Not using DormantFile yet? It starts at £19/year — see how it works.