WebFiling is closing for accounts in April 2028 — what to use instead
By DormantFile · Updated 10 June 2026
From April 2028, you will no longer be able to file your company's annual accounts on the Companies House website. The free WebFiling route for accounts — and paper filing — are closing as part of the government's confirmed Companies House reforms. All accounts will have to be filed through commercial software.
If you run a dormant or small company and your annual routine is "log into WebFiling, file the accounts for free, done", this is the change that ends it. Here's exactly what's closing, what isn't, and your options.
What's closing — and what isn't
Only the accounts routes are closing. WebFiling itself isn't being switched off.
Closing from April 2028:
- Filing annual accounts (including dormant accounts) through WebFiling
- Filing accounts on paper by post
Staying on WebFiling:
- Confirmation statements (CS01)
- Director appointments and resignations
- Registered office address changes
- Other statutory forms
This has happened before, by the way: the joint HMRC/Companies House filing service (CATO), which let small companies file accounts and tax together for free, already closed on 31 March 2026. The WebFiling accounts closure finishes the job — after April 2028, software is the only way accounts get to Companies House.
Why Companies House is doing this
The reforms come from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Software-filed accounts arrive digitally tagged (iXBRL), which lets Companies House validate them properly and makes the register harder to abuse with junk filings. The same reform package requires small companies and micro-entities to file a profit and loss account — with an opt-out from having it published — and abolishes abridged accounts. Our full guide to the April 2028 changes covers the whole package.
Your options once WebFiling closes for accounts
There are really only three.
1. An accountant
Accountants file through their own software, so nothing changes except your bill. For an actively trading company this may be money well spent. For a dormant company, paying £150–£400 a year for someone to file a nil balance sheet is hard to justify — see do I need an accountant for a dormant company?
2. General accounts software
Mainstream accounting packages will file accounts to Companies House. But they're built for trading businesses — bookkeeping, VAT, payroll — and priced accordingly (typically £15–£40 per month). Running one to file a dormant company's nil accounts once a year is overkill.
3. A filing service built for your situation
If your company is dormant or barely trading, a focused filing service does the one job cheaply. DormantFile files dormant accounts and micro-entity (FRS 105) accounts through the Companies House software channel — the exact route that becomes mandatory in 2028 — plus the nil CT600 to HMRC that WebFiling never handled anyway, from £19/year.
Do you need to act now?
No. WebFiling accounts filing works as normal until April 2028, and there's no advantage in panicking — your deadlines aren't changing, and the late filing penalties regime isn't either.
The sensible move is simply to decide your route before your first post-April-2028 accounts are due, rather than discovering the WebFiling button has gone three days before your deadline. If you'd rather settle it early and forget about it, see how DormantFile works and pricing — customers filing with us are already on the 2028 rails, so the switch-off date is a non-event.