Companies House Accounts Reforms: What Changes in 2028

On 9 June 2026, the government confirmed that the Companies House accounts reforms will go ahead from 1 April 2028. Every UK company will have to file its accounts using commercial software. Small companies and micro-entities will have to file a full profit and loss account for the first time. The free web and paper routes for accounts filing will close.

These changes come from the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. They were paused last year while the government listened to business concerns. That pause is over. The reforms are happening, with one concession and a later start date.

You have until April 2028 to prepare. That sounds distant. The cutoff is a fixed calendar date, tied to when you file rather than to your accounting period. Any accounts you deliver on or after 1 April 2028 are caught. Which of your filings is first to fall under the new rules depends on your year-end. It’s worth checking sooner rather than later.

What the Companies House Accounts Reforms Change

The package confirmed on 9 June covers several areas at once. Here’s what’s in it:

• Software-only filing. Every company must file its annual accounts via commercial software, in iXBRL (digitally tagged) format. This applies whether you file yourself or through an accountant.
• Profit and loss accounts. Small companies and micro-entities must file a profit and loss account, as larger companies already do.
• An opt-out from publication. Small companies and micro-entities will be able to opt out of publishing that profit and loss account on the public register. The opt-out covers publication, not filing.
• No more abridged accounts. The option to file abridged accounts is being removed.
• A stronger audit exemption statement. Companies claiming audit exemption will need to make a strengthened eligibility statement.
• One complete filing. All parts of your accounts must be filed together, rather than submitted in separate pieces.
• Limited year-end changes. The number of times you can shorten your accounting date is being reduced, making filing deadlines harder to change.

The web and paper routes for accounts close on 1 April 2028. They stay open for other filings, such as confirmation statements and director updates.

Why This Is Harder Than It Looks

This reads like an administrative change. File by software, add a profit and loss page, done. The detail is where it bites.

Start with the profit and loss requirement. The opt-out stops your figures appearing on the public register. It does not hide them. Companies House, HMRC and law enforcement still see the full account. The privacy you gain is partial, and the data you file is complete.

The opt-out mechanism is not yet confirmed. The government has said the detail will follow in due course. Until it does, no one can tell you how to claim it or by when. Planning around a rule that isn’t fully written is its own risk.

Then there’s audit exemption. The Companies House accounts reforms tighten what you must declare to claim it. If your company sits in a group, especially a UK subsidiary of an overseas parent, your size is judged across the whole group worldwide. A small UK company inside a large group is often not exempt at all. Sign the wrong statement and you’ve filed accounts you weren’t entitled to file.

The fixed date adds friction too. 1 April 2028 won’t move to suit your accounting period. Depending on your year-end, your first software-filed, profit-and-loss-included accounts could land at an awkward point in your cycle. You’ll want to know which set of accounts is the first to be caught, well before it arrives.

Software is the obvious task. The judgement calls around it are the hard part.

What This Means for Small and Dormant Companies

If you’re a small company or micro-entity, this is the biggest shift. You’ve probably filed minimal accounts to keep your numbers private and your costs down. Both of those habits are affected at once.

Dormant companies are caught too. A dormant company still files accounts, so it still moves to software-only filing in 2028. If you run one and file by hand each year, that route ends.

None of this is a reason to panic in 2026. It’s a reason to know where you stand before the window closes.

Part of a Bigger Companies House Overhaul

These reforms don’t stand alone. They’re one piece of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, the largest change to UK company law in a generation.

The same Act brought in identity verification for directors and people with significant control. It gave Companies House new powers to query and reject suspect information. The accounts reforms push in the same direction: better data on the register, harder to abuse, more useful to the lenders and investors who rely on it.

For honest companies, the aim is a cleaner register and easier access to finance. The trade-off is more to file, in a stricter format, with less room for error. That’s the balance every director now has to manage.

How Hamlyns Can Help

We prepare and file annual year-end accounts for a living. These reforms change the how, not our role, and we’re already preparing for them.

We’ll tell you which of your accounts is the first to fall under the new rules. We’ll handle software filing in the correct iXBRL format. We’ll prepare your profit and loss account and advise on the publication opt-out once the detail is confirmed. We’ll also check whether you genuinely qualify for audit exemption, group test and all, before you sign anything.

If you file your own accounts today, or you’re not sure your current process survives 2028, please get in touch with the Hamlyns team. You can also read our explainer on the HMRC and Companies House joint filing service closing in 2026, the change that started this shift. We’ll give you a clear answer in plain English, with years to spare.