Accounts Filing Software Becomes Mandatory in 2028
From 1 April 2028, every UK company must file its annual accounts using commercial accounts filing software. The free Companies House web service closes. Paper filing for accounts ends on the same date. The government confirmed this on 9 June 2026, and it catches even dormant companies.
What’s Changing on Accounts Filing
Right now, you can file company accounts in several ways. Many small companies use the free Companies House web service. Some still file on paper. From April 2028, both routes close for accounts.
The free service is popular for a reason. It costs nothing, it’s straightforward, and many small and dormant companies have used it for years. That convenience is what disappears in 2028.
Every company must use accounts filing software instead, in iXBRL format. iXBRL stands for inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language. In plain terms, it’s accounts with each figure digitally tagged, so Companies House systems can read the data automatically. Machine-readable filings are the whole point of the reform.
This is part of a wider move to digital filing. The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act is steering Companies House towards reliable, machine-readable data across the register. Paper and free web forms don’t serve that aim. Software does.
Many companies won’t feel much. If an accountant or agent already files your accounts through software, the mechanics barely change for you. The real question is whether you’re certain that’s your situation, or only assuming it.
Several other reforms arrive on the same date. Small companies gain a profit and loss filing requirement. Abridged accounts disappear. For the full set of changes, see our overview of the Companies House accounts reforms.
Why Accounts Filing Software Isn’t a Simple Swap
The fix looks simple. Buy software, file your accounts, move on. The reality has more edges.
Not all software is equal. Packages vary in what they handle and whether they suit a company of your size and structure. Pick the wrong one and you face re-work, or filings that miss the format. Our guide to accounting software for small businesses is a useful starting point.
Software doesn’t prepare the accounts for you, either. It files what you give it. The figures, the disclosures and the tagging still have to be right before anything is submitted. A tool speeds up filing; it doesn’t replace knowing what to file.
iXBRL tagging is technical. Your accounts must be marked up so Companies House systems read every figure correctly. Errors there can mean rejection, and a rejected filing close to a deadline risks a late filing penalty.
There’s a cost shift, as well. The Companies House web service is free. Commercial software is not. For a company filing simple accounts once a year, that’s a new annual cost where there wasn’t one. It’s modest for most, yet it lands on the smallest companies hardest.
A transition needs managing too. Your first software filing has to be right first time, on a date set by the calendar rather than your convenience. Getting set up early beats scrambling in 2028.
Dormant Companies Are Caught Too
A dormant company still has to file accounts, so it’s caught by the software rule like any other. If you hold a dormant company and file a short set by hand each year, that habit ends in 2028.
The free web route you’ve used disappears. You’ll need software, or an accountant, for what used to take a few minutes online.
It’s a small task that’s easy to forget, which is the danger. A missed dormant filing still triggers a penalty. Leave it long enough and the company can be struck off, with its assets passing to the Crown.
How Hamlyns Can Help
We already prepare and file company accounts through software, in the format Companies House requires. For our clients, 2028 changes very little. The work simply has to be done this way for everyone.
We’ll prepare your accounts and file them in correct iXBRL format. Accounts filing software is ours to handle, so you don’t have to choose, buy or learn it. Your dormant companies stay compliant too, the same as your trading ones.
If you file your own accounts today, the closing of the free routes is your cue to plan. Speak to the Hamlyns team, and the switch becomes our problem, not yours. Start with a conversation.
