HMRC and Companies House to scrap free filing services
From April 2026 companies won’t be able to file their tax returns and accounts using the HMRC and Companies House free-to-use service. What steps should companies take ahead of the deadline?
On 6 March HMRC and Companies House announced that their online filing services for corporation tax (CT) returns and accounts will be withdrawn with effect midnight on 31 March 2026. This will be a blow mainly for micro and small companies which are the chief users of the services. If you already use software to submit CT returns to HMRC and accounts to Companies House the withdrawal of the services won’t affect you.
Companies that are affected by the withdrawal of services will be allowed to submit accounts to CH on paper but will need to purchase software to file their CT returns. Both the government authorities have help pages on their websites to help companies find suitable software – you can view the GOV.UK version here.
After 31 March 2026 companies will only be able to view accounts and tax returns previously submitted using the free filing services if they take the following steps:
1. Go to the ‘track your submissions’ page and select the period you want to save a copy of your return for.
2. Select either the ‘HMRC’ or ‘Companies House’ submission link .
3. On the filing summary page, select ‘save your return in HTML’.
4. When prompted select where you want to save the file.
Related Topics
-
Practical guide: Tax-efficient will planning with residential property
An individual has a significant property portfolio which provides them with their sole source of income. They want to gift shares in some property to their daughter but retain the income. Can they do this without triggering the reservation of benefit rules?
-
Will HMRC treat late processed invoices as errors?
Your business processes invoices when they have been approved by budget holders, so some will be processed a month late, delaying your input tax claim. How might HMRC’s updated guidance help here?
-
Are redundancy payments tax deductible?
A seemingly simple question we’re often asked is how much tax relief a business is entitled to for redundancy payments. The answer is that it depends on the situation. How might the circumstances of a redundancy affect the tax deduction?