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and Companies House announced that their online filing services for corporation tax (CT) returns and accounts will be withdrawn with effect midnight on 31 March 2026.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
-
Homeworking: claiming input tax on subsistence expenses?
Some of your staff work remotely, but their homes aren’t suited to it. You have agreed to pay for rented office space, or for refreshments if they work from, say, a café. Can you claim input tax on these expenses?
-
Beating the landlord tax hikes
Once again, landlords will be hit by tax increases announced in the Budget, even if they are operating through a company. What are the changes, and can anything be done to mitigate them?
-
Electronic VAT return