Skip to content
Menu
Join our waitlist
TaxPost is in invite-only testing. Join our waitlist to hear when you can order.

When are my annual accounts due each year?

9 months after your year end.

Your accounts must reach Companies House within 9 months, counted to the exact day. If your year ends on the last day of a month, the deadline is the last day of the ninth month.

Published

At a glance

Applies to
Private limited companies, for every year after the first
Deadline
Usually 9 months after . A 31 December year end gives 30 September
What counts
The day Companies House receives acceptable accounts, not the day you send them
If you are late
Your company pays £150 to £1,500, doubled if last year's accounts were late too. Directors commit an offence unless they took all reasonable steps

Sources

This entry is general information for directors of UK private limited companies, not advice about a particular company.

What to do

  1. Know your year end. This is your , the day each of your company's ends.

  2. Count 9 months forward. If is the last day of a month, your is the last day of the ninth month. If not, it is the same date in the ninth month. If that month has no such date, it is the last day of that month.

  3. Aim to file well before the deadline. If Companies House , you get no extra time to fix them.

  4. If something outside your control stops you, ask for more time before the deadline. You cannot ask once it has passed.

Sources

How it works

You have 9 months after your year end

As a director, you must file your company's accounts at Companies House for each . A has 9 months after the end of its accounting reference period. That period ends on your accounting reference date, which is your year end.

After the first year, each period is 12 months long. It starts the day after the last one ended. So your falls on the same date each year, unless you change .

Your can have a different deadline. See first accounts.

Sources

The detail The exact rule

The directors must accounts to for each financial year (Companies Act 2006, section 441(1)). For a private company, the period allowed is nine months after the end of the relevant accounting reference period (section 442(2)(a)). The relevant accounting reference period is the one by reference to which the financial year for those accounts was determined (section 442(7)). GOV.UK puts this as 9 months after your company's financial year ends. Companies House puts it as 9 months from the accounting reference date, for a private company.

after the first are successive periods of twelve months, each beginning immediately after the end of the previous one and ending with the (section 391(6)). Each later financial year begins the day after the previous one ended. It ends on the last day of the next accounting reference period, or on a date the directors choose not more than seven days before or after it (section 390(3)). Companies House says you can make up your accounts to the accounting reference date or a date up to 7 days either side.

Sources

The deadline is counted to the exact day

Count 9 months forward from your year end. The deadline is the same date in the ninth month.

If your year end is the last day of a month, the deadline is the last day of the ninth month instead. This matters because months have different lengths. With a 30 April year end, the deadline is 31 January, not 30 January.

If the ninth month has no such date, the deadline is the last day of that month. That can only happen with a 29 or 30 May year end, because the ninth month is then February.

For example

Bramley Studio Ltd's year ends on 31 December 2026, the last day of a month.

Nine months on is September 2027, and its last day is the 30th.

Its accounts must reach Companies House by midnight on 30 September 2027.

For example

Say your company's year ends on 4 April 2027. That is not the last day of a month.

Your deadline is the same date nine months on: midnight on 4 January 2028, not 31 January.

Sources

The detail Counting the months

Companies House: the deadline for delivery is calculated to the exact day. A period of months after a given date ends on the corresponding date in the appropriate month. A private company with an accounting reference date of 4 April has until midnight on 4 January of the following year (not 31 January). This does not apply if the accounting reference date is the last day of the month. Then the period allowed ends with the last day of the appropriate month. A private company with an accounting reference date of 30 April has until midnight on 31 January of the following year (not 30 January). Companies House does not give the 31 December example itself. The 30 September result comes from applying its month-end rule.

The law sets the same count (Companies Act 2006, section 443). The period ends with the corresponding date in the appropriate month: the month that is the stated number of months after the month in which the period ended (section 443(2) and (5)). If the period ended on the last day of a month, the filing period ends with the last day of the appropriate month, whether or not that is the corresponding date (section 443(3)). If the period ended on the 29th or 30th, not the last day of a month, and the appropriate month is February, the filing period ends with the last day of February (section 443(4)).

Sources

Sundays and bank holidays do not move the deadline

If your deadline falls on a Sunday or a bank holiday, you must still file by that date. Companies House guidance does not say what happens on a Saturday, so file by the Friday before.

Companies House's online services work as usual on bank holidays. Its offices and phone lines are closed.

Sources

Your accounts must arrive; sending them is not enough

Your accounts count as delivered when Companies House receives them in the right format. The date you sent them does not count.

If Companies House , you must correct them and file again. You get no extra time. If the corrected accounts arrive after the deadline, your company gets a late filing penalty. That is why it pays to file early: a rejection then leaves time to fix it.

If you file on paper, post in plenty of time. Close to the deadline, use a delivery service that promises to deliver by a set time. Companies House does not accept delays in the post as a reason to . Companies House plans to end paper filing from 1 April 2028.

Sources

Asking for more time

You can apply for if an unplanned event outside your stops you filing. Companies House's example is a fire that destroys company records a few days before the deadline.

You must apply before your deadline, or your company gets a late filing penalty. The longest you can get is a deadline 12 months after your year end. If Companies House agrees a new date, you must file before it.

For example

Bramley Studio Ltd's year ends on 31 December 2026.

Twelve months after that is 31 December 2027.

No extension can take its deadline past 31 December 2027.

Sources

The detail The exact rule

Section 442(5): if for any special reason the thinks fit, he may, on an application made before the period otherwise allowed expires, extend that period by notice in writing. Section 442(5A): an extension must not take the period for filing to more than twelve months after the end of the relevant accounting reference period. Companies House says it only allows a maximum filing period of 12 months.

Sources

Consequences

If you get it wrong

Your company becomes liable to a penalty if its accounts are not by the . The later they arrive, the more it is:

  • How late

    Up to 1 month

    Penalty
    £150

  • How late

    More than 1 month, up to 3 months

    Penalty
    £375

  • How late

    More than 3 months, up to 6 months

    Penalty
    £750

  • How late

    More than 6 months

    Penalty
    £1,500

Sources

The penalty doubles if last year's accounts were late too. See late filing penalties for how this works.

Each director also commits a criminal offence. A director has a defence if they took all reasonable steps to file on time. A convicted director could get a criminal record and a potentially unlimited fine for each offence. This is separate from the company's penalty. It is no defence that the accounts were never prepared.

Sources

The detail The exact rule

Section 453(1): if the accounts are not delivered before the end of the period for filing, the company is liable to a civil penalty, in addition to any of the directors under section 451. The amounts are in the Companies (Late Filing Penalties) and (Filing Periods and Late Filing Penalties) Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/497), regulation 4. The length of lateness runs from the end of the period for filing to the day the accounts are delivered. The amount is doubled if there was also a failure to file on time for the previous financial year, and that year began on or after 6 April 2008. Section 451: every person who was a director immediately before the end of the period for filing commits an offence. It is a defence to prove they took all reasonable steps to secure that the accounts would be delivered in time. It is not a defence to prove that the accounts were not in fact prepared as required.

Sources

Less common situations

You change your year end. You can change your current or previous to make a period shorter or longer. A period cannot be longer than 18 months, unless the company is . You cannot change it once your accounts are overdue.

You shortened your period. The is the later of the normal 9 months and 3 months from the date of . Companies House plans a further limit on shortening from 1 April 2028.

Your year end is 28 February. In most years that is the last day of the month, so the deadline is 30 November. In a leap year, 28 February is not the last day, so the deadline is 28 November. A 29 February gives 30 November.

Your year end is 29, 30 or 31 May. Your deadline is the last day of February: the 28th, or the 29th in a leap year. The law counts to the same date nine months on, or to the month's last day if there is no such date. February has no 30th or 31st, and usually no 29th.

Your company is dormant. The deadline is the same. You must still file accounts at Companies House. An based only on your company being is unlikely to succeed.

Sources

The detail Changing your year end

Section 392(1) and (2): a company may give notice to of a new accounting reference date for its current or previous and later periods. The notice must say whether the period is shortened, ending on the first occasion the new date falls after the period began, or extended, ending on the second occasion. Section 392(3): a notice extending a period is not effective if given less than five years after the end of an earlier period that was extended under this section. This page does not cover any exceptions to that rule. Section 392(4): a notice may not be given for a previous period once its filing deadline has passed. Section 392(5): a period may not be extended to exceed 18 months.

Section 442(4): if a period is shortened by a section 392 notice, the filing period is the normal period or three months from the date of the notice, whichever expires last. Companies House puts the second option as 3 months from the date it receives the notice. If those two dates differ, work from the earlier one to be safe.

Sources

Worked example: Bramley Studio Ltd

Bramley Studio Ltd was on 11 March 2024. By default, its would have been 31 March, the end of the month of its first anniversary.

It changed its year end to 31 December on 20 May 2024 by . Its first period ran from 11 March to 31 December 2024. Each year since has run from 1 January to 31 December.

Accounts for the year to 31 December 2026

  • Year end

    Date
    31 December 2026

    The last day of a month

  • Nine months on

    Date
    September 2027

    Counting January to September

  • Deadline

    Date
    30 September 2027

    The last day of September, because the year end is a month end

  • Day of the week

    Date
    Thursday

    Our working, from a calendar. A Sunday or bank holiday would not move it

  • Latest date with an extension

    Date
    31 December 2027

    12 months after the year end

Sources

Say its 2025 accounts were on time. If the 2026 accounts arrived on 1 October 2027, they would be up to 1 month late, and the penalty would be £150. On 1 January 2028, they would be more than 3 months late, and the penalty would be £750.

Sources

Not covered here

What the accounts must contain, and the Corporation Tax deadlines that run from the same . See when to pay Corporation Tax, when your Corporation Tax return is due and late filing penalties.

Where this comes from

44 official sources. Open a group to see them.

The law 17 sources
HMRC 3 sources
GOV.UK 12 sources
Companies House 11 sources
FRC 1 source

Want it prepared for you?

We prepare and file your accounts and Corporation Tax return.

Join our waitlistSee what is included