Missing a Companies House filing deadline is more expensive than most accountants realise — and the penalties double if a client misses two years in a row. Here is the exact penalty schedule and how to make sure it never happens at your practice.
The penalty schedule for annual accounts
Companies House charges automatic penalties when annual accounts are filed late. The amounts depend on how late the filing is:
| How late | Private company penalty | Public company penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1 month | £150 | £750 |
| 1 to 3 months | £375 | £1,500 |
| 3 to 6 months | £750 | £3,000 |
| More than 6 months | £1,500 | £7,500 |
These penalties double if the company files late for two consecutive years. The doubled figures are:
| How late | Private company (doubled) | Public company (doubled) |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 1 month | £300 | £1,500 |
| 1 to 3 months | £750 | £3,000 |
| 3 to 6 months | £1,500 | £6,000 |
| More than 6 months | £3,000 | £15,000 |
Separately, the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023) gave Companies House new civil penalty powers from May 2024 onwards for persistent corporate transparency failures. The standard tiered fines above remain the dominant exposure for a single late filing, but expect enforcement to harden as ECCTA case law matures.
Confirmation statement penalties are different
A late confirmation statement does not trigger an automatic financial penalty the same way annual accounts do. Instead, Companies House may strike the company off the register for failure to confirm — a far more damaging outcome than a fine. Directors of struck-off companies can be disqualified. We cover the strike-off timeline in detail in Confirmation statement overdue: what happens next.
Why accountants miss deadlines
The most common reason is reliance on the Companies House reminder email. For annual accounts, this reminder arrives about one month before the deadline — which is tight if the client's records are disorganised. For confirmation statements, the reminder often arrives on or close to the due date, leaving no time to act.
Accountants monitoring 20–80 clients on spreadsheets face another problem: a single entry being wrong or a filter being missed means a deadline is invisible until it has already passed.
How to avoid late filing penalties for your clients
- Know every deadline at least 30 days in advance — not on the day it falls.
- Chase clients for records at the 30-day mark, not the 7-day mark.
- Have a fallback if a client is unresponsive — a filing extension application can be submitted to Companies House in certain circumstances, but only before the deadline.
- Monitor your entire client list from one place, not from multiple spreadsheets and browser tabs — see how to check Companies House deadlines in bulk.
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