HMRC and Companies House have provided a joint filing service since 2011 that allow companies and other entities to submit statutory accounts to HMRC alongside their corporation tax return (CT Return) and full statutory, abbreviated or dormant accounts to Companies House.
However, all that is about to change! From 1 April 2026, the joint filing service will be closed.
Companies House has said that the service is closing because it’s now outdated, it no longer aligns to modern digital standards, enhanced corporation tax requirements or changes to UK company law under the Economic Crime and Corporate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 2023 (ECCTA).
This will be a big change, a lot of companies, including ourselves, use this service as it’s simple, free, and lets you file everything in one place.
Moving to software-only filing might improve systems in the long run, but it also means extra complications and unfortunately costs.
Ideally Companies House/HMRC should have provided a straightforward, low-cost option to replace the current service, but, many companies will now need to plan, and possibly pay for software, just to keep doing what they’ve always done!
Many companies that are required to file accounts and CT Returns with HMRC and Companies House will use their accountant to help them with this, but there is still a significant number where this is not the case and iFRC can help you, particularly if you have dormant companies, or entities with simple accounts requirements.
Planning for the change
It’s important to plan as early as possible how annual accounts and CT Returns will be filed after 31 March 2026. Commercial software can start to be used at any time with no requirement to tell HMRC or Companies House that this is being done.
If your accountant can't file or if you have other companies that you file individually, iFRC has teamed up with [Name to be added if we agree] and can file accounts and CT600 with Companies House and HMRC for you using pre-formatted templates. Our prices start from £75 a company.