How to file dormant company accounts with Companies House

By Ben Davies · Updated 5 October 2026

Every UK limited company must file annual accounts with Companies House, even if the company is dormant and has done nothing all year. For dormant companies, this means filing a simplified set of dormant accounts.

If you want to see the finished document first, there's a real example of dormant company accounts showing every section.

What are dormant company accounts?

Dormant company accounts confirm your company had no significant accounting transactions during the period. Under section 1169 of the Companies Act 2006, a company is dormant if it has had no "significant accounting transactions". The law ignores only a few payments: paying for the shares the first shareholders took when the company was formed, and paying Companies House a confirmation statement fee, a change-of-name fee, a re-registration fee or a penalty for filing accounts late. Any other fee or penalty, and any bank charge, counts.

Dormant doesn't mean empty. For a company that has never traded, the balance sheet is often just its share capital. But if your company traded once and still owes money, is owed money or holds assets, it can still be dormant — and its dormant accounts show those figures, unchanged through a year in which nothing happened. That holds as long as nothing about them changes in the year: nothing paid or collected, no interest added, nothing written off or written down. What decides dormancy is whether anything moved during the year, not whether the balance sheet has anything on it.

Why Companies House's own form can't file accounts for a company that traded before

Companies House's own dormant accounts forms — online and the paper form AA02 — are templates for a company that has never traded. The paper form's balance sheet has four boxes: share capital not yet paid, cash at bank, net assets and shareholders' funds.

A company that traded before usually still carries money it owes, money it is owed, or profits or losses it kept. Its dormant accounts have to show those figures, and the forms have nowhere to put them. So it files full dormant accounts instead.

DormantFile builds the whole accounts document and files it through Companies House's software channel, so the balance sheet carries every line the company still has. See can a dormant company have assets and liabilities?

What you need

Before you file, make sure you have:

• Company registration number — your 8-digit Companies House number.
• Companies House authentication code — a 6-character alphanumeric code sent to your registered office address. If you do not have one, you can request it from Companies House.
• Accounting period dates — the start and end date of the period you are filing for. Your accounting reference date determines these.
• Your last filed accounts, if the company traded before going dormant. With no transactions since, the figures on that balance sheet are the ones your dormant accounts carry.

Note: these credentials are separate from your HMRC Government Gateway login, which you need to file the CT600 (the Company Tax Return HMRC asks limited companies to file).

When is the deadline?

For private limited companies, annual accounts must be filed within 9 months of the end of the accounting reference period.

For example, if your accounting period ends on 31 March 2026, accounts are due by 31 December 2026.

First-year accounts work differently. When the first accounting period runs longer than 12 months — the default for a new company — the deadline is 21 months from the date of incorporation, which lands slightly earlier than the 9-month rule would suggest.

We cover all the deadlines in our guide on dormant company filing deadlines.

What happens if you file late?

Companies House imposes automatic late filing penalties:

These penalties are automatic and apply even if the company is dormant with nothing to report — though you can appeal one if you had a good reason for filing late. If you file late in two consecutive years, the penalty doubles. We cover the full picture in our guide on late filing penalties.

How to file with DormantFile

We submit your dormant accounts directly to Companies House through its official software filing channel — plus the nil CT600, now that HMRC's free filing service has closed. It works whether or not the company traded before. Add your company, enter your authentication code, and file. It takes about two minutes. See filing dormant accounts online with DormantFile.

If the company traded before going dormant, the accounts step shows its balance sheet. Enter the figures, or start from the ones in its last accounts on the Companies House register — you check them and save before you can continue. Next year, they carry forward on their own.

We watch the submission until Companies House accepts it and keep the acceptance record. If it's rejected, we fix it and resubmit — your subscription covers every attempt.

DormantFile files for dormant and non-trading companies only. A company that had a transaction or two but didn't trade — typically a Bounce Back Loan being repaid — files micro-entity accounts, which we file too. If your company is trading, or has profit to report, you need an accountant.

For comparison, an accountant typically charges £80–£150 per company to file the same dormant accounts.

Do you also need to file a CT600?

Not necessarily. You also need to file a nil CT600 return when HMRC sends the company a notice to deliver one. A notice that has arrived has to be answered, even for a dormant period. With no notice, you only need annual accounts. We explain how to check in our guide on whether you need a CT600.

DormantFile files both from one dashboard, and keeps track of the rest of the company's year — the accounts and confirmation statement deadlines, directors' identity checks and the public register. Plans start at £19/year.

Key points

• Every UK limited company must file annual accounts, even if dormant.
• Dormant accounts confirm no significant transactions occurred.
• Companies House's own dormant accounts form is only for a company that has never traded — it has no boxes for anything a trading past leaves behind. DormantFile files dormant accounts whether or not the company traded before.
• Dormant doesn't mean empty: a company that traded before shows the figures it still holds and owes, unchanged.
• Deadline: 9 months after your accounting reference date (for first accounts: the later of 21 months from incorporation or 3 months after the period end).
• Late penalties start at £150 and go up to £1,500. They double if late two consecutive years.
• You need your Companies House authentication code to file online. If you don't have one or it's lost, see our complete guide to the authentication code for how to request a replacement.