Limited Company Accounts: What You Must File and When (UK Guide)

If you run a UK limited company, filing accounts isn’t optional — it’s a legal duty with hard deadlines and automatic penalties. The good news is that once you understand what’s actually required, it’s very manageable. This guide explains exactly what “limited company accounts” are, what you must file, when, and whether you can do it yourself.

What are limited company accounts?

“Limited company accounts” usually means your annual statutory accounts — the formal financial statements every company must prepare at the end of its financial year. They report what your company earned, spent, owns and owes.

A full set of statutory accounts includes:

• A balance sheet (what the company owns and owes on the last day of the year)
• A profit and loss account (income and expenses over the year)
• Notes to the accounts
• A director’s report (unless you qualify as a “small” company and choose to leave it out)

These accounts do two jobs: they’re filed publicly at Companies House, and they form the basis of the Corporation Tax you pay to HMRC.

What you must file each year

Running a limited company means three separate annual filings, to two different bodies:

1. Statutory accounts → Companies House. Your annual financial statements. Small companies can file simpler “abridged” accounts, and very small “micro-entities” can file even less.
2. Company Tax Return (CT600) → HMRC. This reports your taxable profit and the Corporation Tax due. You also send a copy of your accounts and your tax computation.
3. Confirmation statement → Companies House. A yearly check that confirms your company details (directors, shareholders, registered office) are up to date. It’s separate from your accounts.

It’s easy to confuse Companies House and HMRC — but they’re different organisations with different deadlines, and you have to satisfy both.

The deadlines

Notice that Corporation Tax is due before the return itself — you pay first (9 months and a day after year-end) and file the CT600 later (within 12 months). Use our free Corporation Tax calculator to estimate the bill in advance.

Can I do my own limited company accounts?

Yes — there’s no law forcing you to use an accountant. If your company is small and your affairs are simple, you can prepare and file accounts yourself using HMRC and Companies House online services or commercial software.

But there are real catches:

• Accounts must follow the correct accounting standards (FRS 105 for micro-entities, FRS 102 for most small companies).
• The Corporation Tax computation has to be right — adding back disallowed costs, claiming capital allowances, treating the director’s loan account correctly.
• Filing in the wrong format or missing a deadline triggers penalties.

Most directors use an accountant not because they have to, but because the tax saved (through allowances, reliefs and efficient profit extraction) usually exceeds the fee — and it removes the risk entirely. If you’d like it handled, that’s exactly what our limited company accounts service does.

What happens if you file late

Penalties are automatic and escalate:

• Companies House: £150 (up to 1 month late) rising to £1,500 (over 6 months) — and doubled if you file late two years in a row.
• HMRC: £100 for a late CT600, then further penalties and interest the longer it runs.

Worse, persistent non-filing can get your company struck off the register. Filing early — which is what a good accountant does as standard — takes all of this off the table.

How to reduce your Corporation Tax

Your accounts decide your tax bill, so this is where good preparation pays for itself:

• Claim every allowable expense and capital allowance
• Extract profit efficiently through the right salary and dividend mix
• Keep the director’s loan account in order to avoid a tax charge
• Time certain costs and reliefs sensibly

If you want a hand getting set up correctly from the start, our company formation service sets the company up right, and our accountants for limited companies keep it that way year after year.

The bottom line

Limited company accounts come down to three filings — statutory accounts and a confirmation statement to Companies House, and a Corporation Tax return to HMRC — each with its own deadline. You can do them yourself, but the rules are strict and the penalties automatic, which is why most directors hand them over and come out ahead on the tax.