Companies House filing reforms: Big changes set for April 2028

The government has confirmed that reforms to Companies House account filing will now take effect from April 2028. This has been pushed back by one year from the originally proposed start date of April 2027.

Despite the delay, the core change is a big one.

• Small companies (and micro-entities) will, for the first time, be required to file a Profit and Loss Account with Companies House.
• If your business currently files abridged accounts or uses the web-based filing service, the way you file is going to change.

What exactly is changing from April 2028?

Several things will be changing all at once, and the majority of small and micro companies will be affected:

• Filing a Profit and Loss Account will become mandatory for both small companies and micro-entities.
• The option to file abridged accounts is being removed entirely.  
• All accounts will need to be filed using commercial software in iXBRL format
• The current paper and web-based Companies House filing services will be withdrawn.

This means, in short, that old routes are closing to be replaced by software-based filing. This is expected given the government’s continued push towards digital accounting, finance and tax.

Does this mean Profit & Loss Accounts will be publicly visible?

Profit & Loss (P&L) accounts will not necessarily be publicly visible as a result of these changes. Small companies and micro-entities will be required to submit their Profit and Loss Account to Companies House, BUT they will be able to opt out of having it displayed on the public register. However, Companies House, HMRC and law enforcement agencies will still retain access to the information

Commercial details (the bits that owners are understandably cautious about sharing!) will not automatically become public.

It’s not clear yet exactly how this will work, but further guidance on the opt-out process is expected from Companies House in due course.

Why is this happening?

Like most reforms in recent years, the government says its aims here are to improve the quality and accuracy of information held by Companies House. This, in turn, will strengthen their fraud prevention systems and help them detect other types of economic crime.

Again, none of this is particularly surprising, and these changes bring the UK’s corporate transparency closer in line with what other jurisdictions already require.

What does this mean for small businesses?

Profit and Loss Accounts will be mandatory from April 2028, but the opt-out means that commercial sensitivity does not have to be compromised.

Software, systems and processes will evolve over the next 18 to 24 months in preparation for the changes. But there is plenty of time to plan, and we will keep Gravitate clients updated as guidance develops.

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