Companies House for dormant & non-trading companies
Everything a dormant or non-trading UK limited company has to deal with at Companies House — dormant accounts, FRS 105 micro-entity accounts, confirmation statements, authentication codes, strike-off, ECCTA, and penalties. Guides, plain-English answers, and free tools, all in one place.
Start here
The essentials — what dormant accounts are, when they're due, and how to file them.
Guide
How to file dormant company accounts with Companies House
Step-by-step guide to filing dormant accounts — including for a company that traded before going dormant — with the 6 stages every dormant accounts submission goes through.
Answer
What are dormant company accounts?
The minimal accounts a dormant company files instead of full statutory accounts.
Guide
Form AA02: dormant company accounts (DCA) explained
What the paper dormant accounts form is, who it's limited to, and why it ends in April 2028.
Guide
Dormant company accounts example
The filed document section by section, from a real filing.
Tool
Am I dormant? — free checker
Answer 8 questions to confirm dormancy under both the Companies Act and HMRC definitions.
Guide
File dormant company accounts online
Dormant accounts — including ones that carry figures from trading years — and the nil CT600, filed through software. £19/year with deadline monitoring included.
Guide
What a £9 one-off service leaves out
A one-off service files one set of accounts. What it leaves to you, and what DormantFile covers across the whole year.
Not dormant, or not an ordinary company?
When a company isn't trading but can't file as dormant — for example because it's repaying a Bounce Back Loan — plus the entity types worth knowing about: a CIC's accounts go by a route no software can use (though we do file its tax return), an LLP files its own dormant accounts or micro-entity LLP accounts (FRS 105; there is no LLP AA02), and flat management and RTM companies have a dormancy test of their own.
Guide
Filing accounts for a non-trading company with a Bounce Back Loan
Why a repaid loan breaks dormancy, and how to file FRS 105 micro-entity accounts and a nil CT600 instead.
Answer
What are micro-entity accounts (FRS 105)?
The short-balance-sheet accounts a non-trading company files instead of dormant ones.
Guide
Dormant vs non-trading company
The legal difference, and which accounts each one files.
Tool
Can I file micro-entity accounts? — free FRS 105 checker
Enter three figures to confirm your company qualifies as a micro-entity before you file FRS 105 accounts.
Guide
How to file CIC accounts — including for a dormant CIC
Community interest companies can't use the normal dormant routes — the CIC34 report, the £15 fee, the routes Companies House accepts, and how the Company Tax Return we do file fits alongside them.
Answer
Can a CIC file dormant company accounts?
Why a CIC's accounts can't go through filing software, what a dormant CIC files instead, and which half of its year DormantFile can cover.
Guide
How to file dormant LLP accounts with Companies House
Deadlines, the statements a dormant LLP balance sheet must carry, designated members, and the nil SA800 DormantFile files when HMRC's notice arrives.
Answer
Can an LLP be dormant?
The no-significant-accounting-transactions test applied to LLPs, and what a dormant one still has to file.
Guide
How to file dormant accounts for a flat management or RTM company
What an FMC or RTM company is, the trust-vs-books test that decides whether it's dormant, and how filing works.
Answer
Is a flat management company dormant?
The trust-vs-books test, honestly explained — and why it isn't automatic either way.
Answer
Does an RTM company need to file accounts?
Yes — an RTM company files accounts and a confirmation statement like any other company.
Answer
Does a flat management company need to file a CT600?
Guarantee companies are within Corporation Tax scope — what the common HMRC no-return letter means, and when a nil CT600 is due.
Answer
Does DormantFile support companies limited by guarantee?
Yes — dormant and micro-entity accounts for FMC and RTM companies, with the correct legal form and CT600 support.
Authentication and access
Getting and using your Companies House authentication code.
Guide
Companies House authentication code: the complete guide
How to request, replace, and use your 6-character authentication code.
Answer
What is a Companies House authentication code?
Plain-English explanation of the 6-character code that authorises filings.
Answer
What is WebFiling?
Companies House's own online service — what it can't file for a dormant company, and why accounts must go through software from April 2028.
Confirmation statements
The annual filing that runs alongside your accounts.
Guide
Annual accounts vs confirmation statement
The two separate annual filings every UK company makes, and how they differ.
Answer
What is a confirmation statement (CS01)?
The annual statement that confirms your company's basic details.
Answer
What are persons with significant control?
Who counts as a PSC, and what the register actually requires.
Deadlines and dates
When Companies House filings are due, and the consequences of missing them.
Guide
Dormant company filing deadlines explained
Accounts, Company Tax Return (CT600), and confirmation statement deadlines and how they interact.
Guide
Accounts due 30 September (31 December year end)
The busiest deadline of the year, and what 1 October costs.
Tool
Dormant deadline calculator
Enter your incorporation date and we'll calculate your next three filing deadlines.
Tool
Late filing penalty calculator
How much you'll owe if your dormant accounts are late — the exact penalty band.
Answer
What is an accounting reference date?
The end date of your accounting period and how it's set.
Penalties and overdue accounts
If your accounts are late, what it costs and how to recover.
Guide
Late filing penalties for dormant companies
The Companies House penalty bands from £150 to £1,500 per period.
Guide
Can you appeal a Companies House late filing penalty?
The one ground that works, the reasons rejected every time, and what to do instead.
Answer
What are Companies House late filing penalties?
Plain-English explanation of how the penalty system works.
Guide
Catching up on overdue dormant company filings
Practical playbook for clearing a backlog of overdue accounts.
Tool
What is this letter? — free letter reader
Photograph a Companies House letter and find out what it is, what it costs, and when it's due — no signup needed.
ECCTA and director verification
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act changes that apply to every dormant-company director.
Guide
ECCTA identity verification for dormant directors
The new mandatory identity check for every director, and what dormant-company directors need to do.
Tool
Companies House public-record audit
Free health check for any UK company — overdue filings, ECCTA status, strike-off risk.
Answer
What happens if a director doesn't verify?
The offence, the penalties, the register annotation — and when your personal deadline falls.
Tool
Director ID verification checker
Free check for any UK company — which directors and PSCs have verified, and each outstanding date.
Answer
When is my director ID verification deadline?
How your date is set by the company's confirmation statement, for existing and new directors.
Answer
How can I check if a director has verified?
What the register now shows for each director and PSC, and what each status means.
Answer
When is a PSC's identity verification deadline?
The three 14-day windows for people with significant control, with worked examples.
Fraud and company hijacking
Dormant companies are the register's favourite hijacking target — a clean history nobody is watching. How to lock yours down.
Guide
Company hijacking: how to protect your dormant company
How hijacking works, why dormant companies are the prime target, and the three protections that stop it.
Answer
What is the Companies House PROOF scheme?
The free scheme that blocks paper filings of the highest-risk forms — and how to sign up.
Answer
How do I report a false filing?
Found a director or address change you didn't make? The same-day steps that undo the damage.
Tool
Company hijack check
Free: every register change on any company in the last 90 days, with the suspicious ones flagged.
April 2028 accounts reforms
Companies House has confirmed that all company accounts filed on or after 1 April 2028 must go through commercial software, and small companies and micro-entities must also file a profit and loss account.
Guide
April 2028 reforms — the complete hub
Software-only filing, P&L for small and micro companies, and what it means for dormant companies — all in one place.
Guide
Companies House accounts changes from April 2028
Software-only filing, profit and loss for small companies, and the privacy opt-out — the full reform package explained.
Guide
WebFiling is closing for accounts — what to use instead
What changes for accounts in April 2028, and the software route DormantFile already files through.
Guide
Profit and loss filing for small and micro companies from 2028
The new P&L filing requirement, and what's known so far about the opt-out from publishing it.
Closing or keeping the company
Whether to dissolve or keep paying for dormant filings — and how to do either.
Guide
How to close a dormant company (and when to keep it open)
How to apply to strike the company off (form DS01), the costs, and reasons to keep the company alive.
Guide
Dissolve vs keep dormant company — 2026 decision
The financial and practical comparison between dissolving and keeping dormant.
Guide
How to reactivate a dormant company
Practical steps to bring a dormant company back to life.
Don’t scramble in 2028 — get a heads-up
We’ll email you when the Companies House timeline firms up, and (optionally) watch your company’s deadlines for free in the meantime. No card, no spam — just the changes that affect you.
Not sure what your dormant or non-trading company needs to file?
Find your company and we'll show you its deadlines and what we can file for it. Free, and no account needed.
Check my company →Not ready to file? Get the free deadline watchdog — Companies House deadline reminders, strike-off alerts and register watch, no card needed.