The online accounts and Company Tax Return service is closing
The joint online filing service will close on 31 March 2026.
Companies House and HMRC are closing the joint online filing service on 31 March 2026.
Companies have used 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.
From 1 April 2026, companies can file their annual accounts with Companies House using third party software, our web services or paper filing. However, you will need to use software to file your Company Tax Return with HMRC.
Why the service is closing
The service is closing because it’s now outdated.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 (ECCT act).
Closing the service also reinforces the big changes taking place at Companies House, as we implement further measures set out in the ECCT act and introduce new processes such as identity verification.
What you need to do
We recommend downloading and saving at least 3 years of accounts filings for your company. You will not be able to access any previous filings on this service after 1 April 2026.
Start considering your software filing options. You’ll need to find a suitable software provider that can meet your filing needs for both Companies House and HMRC.
Find out more about what you need to do to prepare for the closure of the online service to file your accounts and Company Tax Return.
Moving to filing accounts by software only
In the future, you’ll only be able to file accounts with Companies House using third party software.
Although there are currently other ways to file accounts with us, most companies can make the change to using software now.
Filing accounts through software gives you the greatest flexibility to showcase the financial data of your company. It can also give you a variety of functionality to support the running of your business. Many software providers offer a range of accounting packages to help you prepare and file accounts – you can find software for filing company documents.
This future change supports our goal of enabling a fully digital filing service. It will also help us to meet our organisational priority to prevent economic crime and bring the UK in line with international best practice.
We’ll aim to give companies at least 21 months’ notice before this change comes into effect.
Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date with our services.