Companies House accounts filing changes: what changes, and when?

The short answer

The accounts reforms in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 will apply from 1 April 2028. Companies House announced the date on 9 June 2026, after postponing the earlier plan for April 2027, and GOV.UK guidance updated on 25 September 2026 still gives 1 April 2028.

From that date, according to Companies House:

• small companies and micro-entities must file a profit and loss account, with an option to opt out of having it published on the public register;
• abridged accounts end: companies will no longer be able to file them;
• all accounts must be filed by commercial software in iXBRL format, and the web and paper routes close for accounts;
• directors claiming audit exemption must give a strengthened statement that the company qualifies;
• the parts of the accounts and reports must be filed together;
• companies will be able to shorten their accounting reference period fewer times.

Nothing in this list applies yet. Accounts filed today follow the current rules, explained in our guide to abridged and filleted accounts.

Timetable as of October 2026

The only firm date for the accounts package is 1 April 2028. The table sets out the milestones that affect accounts, with the source for each.

Companies House says the 2028 start gives companies 21 months to prepare, described as "one full accounting year, plus 9 months". It has also said that details of how smaller companies can opt out of publishing their profit and loss account will be confirmed in due course. As of 21 October 2026 we have found no later announcement changing the date.

What changes for small and micro companies

The big change is that the profit and loss account stops being optional when filing at Companies House. Today, section 444 of the Companies Act 2006 lets a small company deliver only its balance sheet, and micro-entities can file a short balance sheet alone.

Mandatory profit and loss account

From 1 April 2028, GOV.UK says, a micro-entity must prepare and deliver a copy of its profit and loss account to Companies House, and it will be mandatory for small companies to deliver one too. The campaign site adds that small and micro companies will be able to opt out of having it published on the public register.

Companies House will hold the figures, but a company that opts out will still not show turnover or profit to the public.

End of abridged accounts

Abridged accounts condense the balance sheet and start any profit and loss account at gross profit, which hides turnover. GOV.UK states that from 1 April 2028 companies will no longer be able to file abridged accounts. Small companies will have to file accounts prepared under the small companies regime with a full balance sheet and profit and loss account.

What about filleted accounts?

"Filleted accounts" is an accountants' term for full small company accounts filed without the profit and loss account and directors' report. Filleting in that sense ends in 2028, because the profit and loss account must be delivered. In public it may partly survive through the publication opt-out.

The directors' report

The original plan was that small companies would file a directors' report as well. The 2024 GOV.UK factsheet says a small company "will be required to file its profit and loss account and directors' report", while micro-entities keep the option not to prepare one.

That has since moved. The Companies House campaign site now says the government intends to remove the requirement for any company to produce a directors' report, as part of its Modernising Corporate Reporting programme. The government's Regulation Action Plan update of October 2025 announced the same policy. Treat the directors' report as unsettled until the legislation is made.

Software-only filing and the end of web and paper filing

From 1 April 2028 every accounts filing must be made through commercial software in inline XBRL (iXBRL), whether the company files itself or uses an accountant. Companies House says its web and paper filing systems will close for accounts, but WebFiling stays available for other filings such as confirmation statements and director changes.

One route has already gone. The free HMRC and Companies House joint service for filing accounts and the Company Tax Return, known as CATO, closed on 31 March 2026. Since April 2026 companies can still file accounts with Companies House by software, the web service or paper, but HMRC needs software for the Company Tax Return.

For readers and developers, software-only filing means every set of accounts from April 2028 should be machine-readable. Today many filings are PDFs or paper scans, and large groups in particular often file PDF only. See our iXBRL glossary entry for what the format contains.

The April 2025 size thresholds

Higher thresholds already apply to financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2025, under SI 2024/1303. A company falls into a size class if it meets at least two of the three conditions.

Employee limits did not change. The higher money limits move some companies down a size class, so more of them can use the small and micro regimes, which will carry the new profit and loss duty from 2028. Our company size checker applies the current limits, and the micro-entity page explains the two-year rule for changing size.

What it means for people reading accounts

Credit controllers, lenders and analysts should get more trading data from 2028, but not for every company. Three things will improve.

1. Turnover for small companies. Today a business with £14 million of sales can legally file a balance sheet only. From 2028 its turnover reaches Companies House, and it is public unless the company opts out.
2. Profit or loss, not just net assets. Readers currently infer losses from falling equity. A filed profit and loss account shows the result directly.
3. Consistent data. iXBRL tagging for every filing makes figures comparable across companies and years without reading PDFs.

The opt-out is the main limit: if many small companies use it, the public picture changes less than the headlines suggest. Until then, our guide on how to find a company's turnover lists the other routes.

How much data is missing today

Very little profit and loss data reaches the public register now. In our parsed dataset of iXBRL accounts filed during calendar 2025 (3,623,142 filings), only 68,683 (1.9%) contained a turnover figure. Just 145,195 (4.0%) contained any profit and loss item at all (turnover, gross profit, operating profit, or profit before or after tax). The other 96% were balance sheet only. These shares cover iXBRL filings only. Larger companies that file PDF accounts are not in this count, so the share for the whole register is a little higher.

The register shows the same thing. On 1 October 2026, among 5,166,057 active companies:

Source: Companies House register snapshot, 1 October 2026, from our accounts type statistics. Dormant companies (10.8%) and companies yet to file (26.0%) are left out of the table.

Only about 1 in 50 active companies currently puts a profit and loss account on the public record.

To see which accounts type a company last filed and what its balance sheet shows today, check any UK company on our accounts page.

Sources

1. Companies House to bring in changes to accounts filing from April 2028, GOV.UK, 9 June 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
2. Preparing and filing Companies House accounts, GOV.UK, updated 25 September 2026, accessed 21 October 2026.
3. Changes to accounts, Companies House "Changes to UK company law" campaign site, accessed 21 October 2026.
4. Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act: company accounts factsheet, GOV.UK, 1 March 2024, accessed 21 October 2026.
5. Regulation Action Plan: progress update and next steps, GOV.UK, October 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.
6. The online accounts and Company Tax Return service is closing, GOV.UK, 6 March 2025, accessed 21 October 2026.
7. SI 2024/1303, the Companies (Accounts and Reports) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2024, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 21 October 2026.
8. Companies Act 2006, section 444, legislation.gov.uk, accessed 21 October 2026.

FAQ

When do the Companies House accounts filing changes start?

On 1 April 2028. Companies House announced on 9 June 2026 that the accounts reforms would start in April 2028 instead of April 2027, giving 21 months' notice. GOV.UK guidance updated on 25 September 2026 confirms that from 1 April 2028 accounts must be filed by software in iXBRL, small and micro companies must deliver a profit and loss account, and abridged accounts end.

Will micro-entities have to publish their profit and loss account?

They will have to deliver it to Companies House from 1 April 2028, but they can opt out of having it published on the public register. The same applies to small companies. Companies House has said it will confirm in due course how the opt-out works, so the share of companies that will show turnover publicly is not yet known.

Are abridged accounts being abolished?

Yes. GOV.UK states that from 1 April 2028 companies will no longer be able to file abridged accounts. On 1 October 2026, 148,417 active companies, 2.9% of the active register, had last filed unaudited abridged accounts, so they will need to switch to full small company accounts with a profit and loss account.

Can I still file accounts on paper or through WebFiling?

Yes, until 31 March 2028. From 1 April 2028 Companies House will close its web and paper filing routes for accounts, and every company will need commercial software that produces iXBRL. WebFiling stays open for other filings, such as confirmation statements. The joint HMRC and Companies House CATO service already closed on 31 March 2026.

Do small companies have to file a directors' report from 2028?

It is not settled. The 2024 factsheet on the Act said small companies would have to file a directors' report, but the government has since said it intends to remove the requirement for any company to prepare one. The 2028 announcement lists the profit and loss account, the end of abridged accounts and software filing, but not a directors' report requirement.

Sources: Companies House register and accounts data (Open Government Licence v3.0), legislation.gov.uk and GOV.UK guidance where linked. This page is general information, not legal, tax or credit advice. Spotted an error? Email info@globalmindsetmarketing.co.uk.