Profit and loss filing for small companies and micro-entities from April 2028 (and the privacy opt-out)

By DormantFile · Updated 10 June 2026

From April 2028, small companies and micro-entities must file a profit and loss account with Companies House. This ends decades of "filleted" filing, where the smallest companies could put a balance sheet on the public register and keep their P&L to themselves.

The sting has been taken out of it, though: after pushback from small businesses, the government confirmed on 9 June 2026 that small companies and micro-entities will be able to opt out of having the profit and loss account published. You must file it — but you can keep it off the public record.

The rules today vs April 2028

Today, a micro-entity prepares a balance sheet and a simple P&L, but files only the balance sheet. A small company can do the same, or file abridged accounts.

From April 2028:

• A micro-entity files its balance sheet and its profit and loss account.
• A small company files its balance sheet, directors' report, auditor's report (unless exempt) and its profit and loss account.
• Abridged accounts are abolished entirely.
• All of it goes through commercial software in iXBRL — the WebFiling and paper routes for accounts close at the same time.

If you're not sure which size category your company falls into, see who qualifies as a micro-entity and micro-entity vs small company accounts.

How the privacy opt-out works

Small companies and micro-entities will be able to choose not to have their profit and loss account appear on the public register. Anyone searching your company on the Companies House website would see your balance sheet, as now — but not your turnover or profit.

Three things worth understanding:

1. Filing is not optional — only publication is. The P&L must still be submitted. Companies House holds it, and it can be shared with HMRC and law enforcement. The opt-out controls what the public sees.
2. The mechanics aren't published yet. The government has said details of how to opt out "will be confirmed in due course", most likely in secondary legislation. Nobody — no accountant, no software provider — can tell you the exact process yet, because it doesn't exist. We'll update this guide when it does.
3. It exists because small businesses pushed back. The original reform had every company's P&L going public. Concerns about competitors, suppliers and customers reading small companies' margins led to the opt-out — and a year's delay, from April 2027 to April 2028.

What this means for a dormant company

A dormant company has no significant accounting transactions, so its profit and loss account — if one is required at all — is nil: zero income, zero expenses. Companies House hasn't yet confirmed exactly how the P&L requirement applies to dormant accounts, but there is no scenario where it creates real disclosure for a genuinely dormant company, because there's nothing to disclose.

The change that actually bites dormant companies is the software-only filing requirement arriving on the same date.

What this means for a non-trading micro-entity

If your company files micro-entity accounts because it isn't quite dormant — typically because it's repaying a Bounce Back Loan or holding minor interest-bearing balances — your P&L is usually a handful of lines, and often a loss the size of your bank charges and loan interest.

From April 2028 those lines get filed. With the opt-out, they stay off the public register, which for most owners is the part that matters: the fact your side-project company made £0 revenue again is nobody's business but yours and HMRC's.

What to do now

Nothing, yet — and be wary of anyone telling you otherwise. The requirement starts in April 2028, the opt-out mechanics aren't published, and your current filing options work until then.

When the time comes, the practical requirements will be: software that files iXBRL accounts including the P&L, and that handles the publication opt-out for you. DormantFile already files dormant and micro-entity accounts through the Companies House software channel, and we'll support the P&L and opt-out the day Companies House switches them on — customers won't need to do anything. See how it works and pricing.