Companies House software filing: a 2028 plan for practices

What is changing with Companies House software filing?

The core change is simple. The government’s changes to UK company law page on accounts says all accounts filings made on or after 1 April 2028 must be filed using commercial software. The Companies House web filing service and paper filing will close for accounts on that date. The GOV.UK guidance on filing your company’s annual accounts says the same: from 1 April 2028 you must use commercial software.

The change comes from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which gave Companies House new powers over how and what companies file. The aim is better quality, machine-readable data on the public register.

For a practice that already files every client’s accounts through its accounts production software, little changes. For practices that still key small company and dormant accounts into the web service, or that leave some directors to file their own, this is a real piece of work with a fixed end date.

What changed from the April 2027 plan?

If you read about this in 2025 or early 2026, you probably saw a different date and a bigger set of changes. The earlier plan was for software-only filing from April 2027, alongside the end of abridged accounts and a new requirement for small and micro companies to file a profit and loss account.

The position on the GOV.UK campaign page is now different:

The page also mentions an enhanced directors’ statement on the balance sheet for companies claiming audit exemption, an intention to remove the requirement for a directors’ report, and a business reason needed to shorten an accounting reference period more than once in five years. Dates for those are not given, so treat them as items to watch rather than act on.

Many practice websites and software blogs have not been updated. If a client forwards an article saying abridged accounts end in 2027, point them to the official page.

Which clients does the change affect most?

Every company that files accounts is affected in principle, but the practical impact depends on how each client files today. Sort your client list into four groups.

1. Already filed through your software. No change beyond checking your software supports any new data requirements.
2. Filed by you through the web service. Usually dormant companies and very small micro-entities. These need moving into your production software.
3. Filed by the directors themselves. Directors who prepare their own simple accounts and use the web form will need a software product or an agent.
4. Filed on paper. Rare, but often companies with unusual circumstances that need extra time.

Groups 3 and 4 are an opportunity. A director who has filed their own dormant accounts for years now needs software or a practice. A short, fixed-fee offer for dormant and micro-entity filing, sent well before 2028, is a sensible way to win that work.

For reference, a company is a micro-entity if it meets any two of turnover of £1 million or less, a balance sheet total of £500,000 or less and 10 or fewer employees. It is small if it meets any two of turnover of £15 million or less, a balance sheet total of £7.5 million or less and 50 or fewer employees, according to the GOV.UK guidance on small and micro-entity accounts.

Worked example: a migration plan for 180 companies

Here is an illustrative practice with 180 limited company clients. The figures are invented but typical.

• Filed through accounts production software: 132.
• Filed by the practice through the web service: 31, mostly dormant and micro-entities.
• Filed by directors themselves, with the practice doing only the tax return: 14.
• Filed on paper: 3.

The practice sets an internal deadline of 31 December 2027, three months before the change, so nothing is migrated in a rush. Moving the 31 web-filed companies into software takes about 45 minutes each for set-up and a check against the last filed accounts: roughly 23 hours, spread across the 2027 filing year as each company comes due.

The 14 self-filers get a letter in early 2027 offering a fixed fee for accounts filing. If half accept at an illustrative £250 a year, that is £1,750 of new recurring fees, more than covering the migration time. The three paper filers are reviewed individually.

What should a practice do before April 2028?

Use this checklist, working from the top:

• Inventory filing routes. For every company client, record how the last accounts were filed and who filed them.
• Confirm software coverage. Check that your production software handles every type of accounts you file, including dormant, micro-entity, abridged and filleted accounts.
• Collect authentication codes. Make sure you hold each client’s Companies House authentication code, or have a process to get it, because software filing still needs it.
• Write to self-filing directors. Explain the change, the date and your fixed-fee option.
• Migrate as accounts fall due. Move each web-filed company into software at its next year-end, not all at once.
• Update engagement letters. Make clear who files, by what route and what the client must approve first.
• Watch for further announcements. Check the GOV.UK page before each filing season.

Our UK engagement letter checklist covers how to put filing responsibilities into a schedule you can update without reissuing the whole letter.

Do deadlines and penalties change with software filing?

No. The route changes; the deadlines do not. A private company’s first accounts are due 21 months after incorporation, and later accounts are due nine months after the end of the financial year. Corporation Tax is still due nine months and one day after the accounting period ends, and the Company Tax Return 12 months after.

The late filing penalties for private companies also stay the same: £150 if up to one month late, £375 for one to three months, £750 for three to six months and £1,500 for more than six months. The penalty doubles if accounts are late two years in a row.

The real risk in the switch is not the rules but the timing. A company whose accounts fall due in April or May 2028 and has never been set up in software is the one most likely to slip. Put those clients first in the migration list.

Do directors still need to approve the accounts?

Yes. GOV.UK says directors must approve the accounts before you file them, and the Companies Act requires the balance sheet to be signed on behalf of the board by a director. Software filing changes how the document reaches Companies House, not who must sign it off.

In practice, approval is often the slowest part of the job. Accounts sit finished for weeks while a director finds time to read them. As filing moves fully into software, it makes sense to tighten the approval step too: send the draft with a short summary, ask for a clear approval by a set date and keep a record of who approved and when. If abridged accounts are filed, remember that all members must agree to the abridgement, so that consent needs recording as well.

What should you tell clients about the change now?

Most directors will not notice this change until it affects them, and some will have read out-of-date articles. A short, calm message now prevents confused calls later. Keep it to four points:

1. What is changing: from 1 April 2028, accounts can only be filed with Companies House through commercial software.
2. What is not changing: deadlines, penalties and the option to file abridged accounts stay as they are, and the plan to make small companies file a profit and loss account has been paused.
3. What it means for them: if you already file their accounts, nothing changes on their side. If they file their own, they will need software or an agent.
4. What you need: their authentication code, if you do not already hold it, and approval of the accounts before you file.

Send the message to clients in groups. Those you already file for can get a brief note in your next newsletter. Self-filing directors deserve a personal letter with your fixed-fee option and a reply date. Paper filers need a call.

Be careful not to overstate the change. Directors who hear “Companies House is changing everything” may assume their identity checks, confirmation statements and other filings are all moving at once. Stick to what the official page says about accounts and point them to GOV.UK for the wider reforms. That keeps your advice accurate and protects the practice if the government adjusts the plan again.

How Zaquil handles Companies House software filing

In Zaquil, each company’s year-end is a recurring annual job built from a template, and the template can carry the migration step: “confirm filing route”, “set up in production software”, “authentication code held”. The kanban board shows how many of the 31 web-filed companies have been moved, so the partner can see progress against the 31 December 2027 target.

The client sees the job in the secure client portal. Directors upload year-end records against a document checklist, answer a short questionnaire, and confirm the authentication code where needed. When the accounts are ready, they approve and e-sign the approval in the portal, and the firm keeps the signed PDF certificate on the job before filing through its software.

Deadlines track the nine-month filing date on every company, and automations send the director a reminder if approval is still outstanding seven days after the draft goes out, then create a task for the manager. For the self-filers you are inviting in, the fixed fee can go out as an invoice they pay online, with the final accounts locked until it is paid if you choose.

Every conversation about the job, email, SMS, WhatsApp or a call, sits in one inbox on the client record.

See how it fits a practice on the accounting and tax solution page, and compare plans on the pricing page.