Companies House and HMRC to close free joint filing service

On 6 March HMRC announced that the free online accounts and company tax return service will be closed on 31 March 2026, meaning small businesses will have to use commercial software

This will raise costs for the small businesses that primarily use this service to file their accounts and company tax returns at the same time with Companies House and HMRC, but it will close in 12 months’ time.

Who does this affect?

Any company with an accounting period ending after 31 March 2025 must use commercial software to file their accounts and tax return unless they submit their accounts early.

The mandatory date for filing accounts via software with Companies House has not yet been announced. However, Companies House has stated that businesses will receive at least 21 months' notice before the requirement takes effect.

From 1 April 2026, companies will only be able to file their annual accounts with Companies House using third party software, web services or paper filing. However, it will only be possible to use software to file company tax returns with HMRC from next year.

The software must be able to file a CT600, a corporation tax computation and company accounts.

Companies House said: ‘The service is closing because it is now outdated. It no longer aligns to modern digital standards, enhanced corporation tax requirements or changes to UK company law under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA).

‘Closing the service also reinforces the big changes taking place at Companies House, as we implement further measures set out in the ECCTA and introduce new processes such as identity verification.’

Going forward, companies should download and save at least three years of accounts filings for their business using the HMRC online service 

How to save previous years returns

• Go to the ‘track your submissions’ page and select the period to save a copy of returns.
• Select either the ‘HMRC’ or ‘Companies House’ submission link.
• On the filing summary page, select ‘save your return in HTML’.
• Select where to save the file or it will download to a folder on your computer.

It is very important to note that business owners will not be able to access any previous filings on this service after 1 April 2026.

As a result of the changes, businesses will have to buy suitable software to meet filing requirements for both Companies House and HMRC.

Since online filing for corporation tax was introduced in 2011, the market has matured and grown, resulting in more commercial products on offer although there will be a monthly charge for using the software. On the plus side, the software provides improved validation, tax support and filing reminders.

Closure of the service to file your company accounts and tax return - GOV.UK

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