What is this fine, exactly?
Every year your company has to send its accounts (the summary of the money it made and spent) to Companies House. There's a deadline. Miss it, and Companies House charges you a penalty on its own, without anyone deciding to. The cheque doesn't get bigger because someone is cross with you. It grows the longer the accounts stay late.
This is one of two separate jobs your company has each year. The accounts go to Companies House. A different form, your Company Tax Return, goes to HMRC. Both have their own deadline, and each has its own fine if you're late. This page is about the Companies House one, for the accounts.
How much is the penalty?
For a private limited company, the fine depends on how late the accounts are:
| How late your accounts are | What you pay |
|---|---|
| Not more than 1 month late | £150 |
| 1 to 3 months late | £375 |
| 3 to 6 months late | £750 |
| More than 6 months late | £1,500 |
So the cost of doing nothing climbs fast. A few weeks late is £150. Drag it past six months and it's £1,500 for the same missed filing.
Does it get worse if I'm late again?
Yes. If you file your accounts late two years in a row, the penalty doubles. So a £150 slip this year becomes £300 next year if you're late again, and the £1,500 band becomes £3,000. The simplest way to avoid that is to get this year's accounts in on time and break the run.
A real example
Say your accounts were due on 30 September and you finally file them on 15 December. That's about two and a half months late, which lands you in the 1 to 3 months band, so the fine is £375.
Now imagine you were also late the year before. Because that's two years running, the £375 doubles to £750 for the same delay. Same accounts, same lateness, double the cost, just because it happened two years in a row.
Is this the same as the tax penalty from HMRC?
No, and this trips a lot of people up. There are two separate fines you can get:
- The one on this page, from Companies House, for sending your accounts in late.
- A different fine from HMRC, for sending your Company Tax Return in late.
They're charged by different bodies, for different forms, with different deadlines. Being on time with one doesn't cover you for the other. If you want the HMRC side, our guide to the late tax-return penalty and our Companies House vs HMRC guide explain how they fit together.
How do I avoid the fine altogether?
File the accounts before the deadline. That's the whole trick. The fine only ever exists because the accounts arrived late, so the moment they're in on time, there's nothing to pay. The hard part for most directors isn't paying, it's knowing what the accounts need to contain and not running out of time. That's the part we take off your hands.
How SimpleReturns helps
We prepare your company's accounts from your year's money in and out, show you every figure to check, and file them for you before the deadline, so you don't land in any of the bands above. We handle the HMRC tax return at the same time, so both jobs are done from one place.