How to File Company Accounts Yourself: A Step-by-Step Guide

Filing your own company accounts saves you accountancy fees every year, and it’s totally possible if you have straightforward finances and feel confident preparing the figures.

However, you’ll need to handle two separate filings, meet tight deadlines, and follow the accounting rules that decide what goes in your accounts.

This guide explains how to file company accounts yourself, what you need to file, when to do it, and what happens if you get anything wrong.

Key points

• Your filing requirements depend on your company size 📊
  Micro, small, medium, and large companies have different accounting standards and disclosure requirements, so knowing your size category is the first step.
• Company accounts and Corporation Tax returns are separate filings 🗓️
  You have to file your annual accounts with Companies House and submit a Company Tax Return to HMRC, each with its own deadlines and penalties.
• Late filing can lead to automatic penalties ⚠️
  Companies House penalties increase the longer your accounts are overdue, and HMRC penalties can apply separately if your Company Tax Return is also late.
• Keeping your records organised makes filing easier ✅
  ANNA helps you manage bookkeeping, categorise transactions, store receipts, and prepare your Company Tax Return, so you spend less time pulling figures together at year-end.

Who can file their own company accounts?

Any private limited company can file its own accounts. There's no legal requirement to use an accountant, and Companies House doesn't check who prepared the figures before accepting a filing.

The filing process is most straightforward for micro-entities and small companies with simple finances. That’s because small-scale businesses usually have few transactions and no complicated arrangements like intercompany loans, foreign currency transactions, or share issues during the year. 

If your company has any of these, or you're not confident about the accounting standards involved, it's a good idea to get an accountant to at least review your figures before you submit, even if you handle the filing yourself.

🧠 Good to know

You're still legally responsible for the accuracy of your accounts. HMRC and Companies House can both investigate figures after they're filed, so keeping clear records throughout the year matters as much as correct filing.

How to file company accounts yourself: The step-by-step breakdown

Filing your accounts takes five steps.

Step 1: Work out your company's size category

What you need to prepare and file depends on whether your company qualifies as micro, small, medium, or large. To qualify for a category, you need to meet at least two of its three conditions in two consecutive financial years.

If your company qualifies as small or as a micro-entity, you'll have a simpler set of accounts to prepare. You may also qualify for audit exemption, which removes the need for an independent auditor to check your figures before filing.

If your company qualifies as small, it usually qualifies for audit exemption too, though there are exceptions. Companies that are part of a group or that operate in certain regulated sectors like financial services often can't claim the exemption even if they'd otherwise qualify based on size.

🧠 Good to know

Medium and large companies aren't barred from filing their own accounts, but they almost always need an audit, and their accounts involve more disclosure and more complex accounting treatments. That’s why most bigger companies rely on an accountant or auditor to prepare and file them. 

Step 2: Choose the right accounting standard

Your accounts need to be prepared under a recognised accounting standard. It sets out what your accounts need to show and how certain transactions, such as leases or financial instruments, should be treated.

Your size category determines the standard.

Micro-entities use FRS 105, the simplest standard and the one that requires the least disclosure. It asks for only a basic balance sheet and profit and loss account, without the detailed notes larger companies need to provide.

Small companies that don't qualify as micro-entities use FRS 102 Section 1A, which asks for more disclosure than FRS 105 but is still considerably lighter than the full FRS 102.

If you're unsure which standard applies to your company, check with an accountant to avoid having to redo your accounts later.

Step 3: Prepare your accounts

Your annual accounts generally need to include a balance sheet, a profit and loss account, and any notes that explain the figures. You may need other documents, depending on your size category.

Micro-entity filing requirements

• A balance sheet, showing your assets, liabilities, and capital at your year-end
• A simplified profit and loss account, prepared for HMRC and your members (filing this with Companies House is optional)
• Minimal notes, since micro-entities are exempt from many of the disclosures larger companies need to include

Small company filing requirements

• A balance sheet, along with any supporting notes needed to explain the figures
• A profit and loss account, prepared for HMRC and your members (you can leave this and the director’s report off the public record by filing 'filleted’ accounts)
• A director's report
• An auditor's report, unless your company qualifies for audit exemption

Medium company filing requirements

• A full balance sheet and profit and loss account
• A director's report, covering the company's performance and outlook over the year
• A strategic report (some medium companies are exempt from certain disclosures)
• An auditor's report

Large company filing requirements

• Full financial statements
• A director's report and a strategic report, with more extensive disclosure requirements than those of medium companies
• An auditor's report
• Additional disclosures depending on the company's structure, such as group accounts if it has subsidiaries

Filleted vs abridged accounts

Micro-entities and small companies can currently file a simplified version of their accounts, known as ‘filleted’ accounts. These let you keep more detailed profit and loss information off the public record while still preparing full accounts internally for HMRC and your own members. 

Small companies can also prepare 'abridged' accounts, a reduced version of the balance sheet and profit and loss account, but only if all members of the company consent each year.

Whichever version you file, the figures Companies House sees and those you send to HMRC as part of your Company Tax Return need to be consistent.

💡 Did you know?

ANNA's Auto Accountant automatically categorises your transactions throughout the year, so your income and expenses are already organised when it's time to prepare your accounts.

Step 4: File your accounts with Companies House

Once your accounts are ready, you have a few options for submitting them.

The Companies House WebFiling service lets you file online directly, and it's free. It works well for straightforward micro-entity and small company accounts, though the interface expects you to enter figures into set fields rather than upload a document you've prepared elsewhere.

Commercial accounting software is another option. It handles more detailed accounts than WebFiling can, and it lets you prepare your Companies House accounts and your HMRC Company Tax Return from the same set of figures. Many software providers carry forward your figures between years, reducing repetitive data entry.

Paper filing is still technically possible, though it's slower, comes with a higher risk of rejection over formatting issues, and is discouraged by Companies House.

Your deadline depends on your company's history. Here’s how it works:

• If it's not your first set of accounts, you have nine months after your company's financial year end to file with Companies House. Public companies have six months instead.
• If it’s your first set of accounts, the deadline is 21 months after your company's incorporation date, or three months after your accounting reference date, whichever is longer.

For example, if you incorporated your company on 15 April 2026 with an accounting reference date of 30 April, your first accounts would cover the period from incorporation to 30 April 2027. 

The 21-month deadline from incorporation falls on 15 January 2028, and three months after your accounting reference date falls on 30 July 2027. You take the later of the two, so your filing deadline is 15 January 2028.

If you miss the deadline by even a day, Companies House applies an automatic penalty. There's no grace period, and being late because of an oversight or a change of accountant isn't normally accepted as a reason to waive the charge.

Step 5: File your Company Tax Return with HMRC

Your Company Tax Return, submitted through the CT600 form, is a separate filing to HMRC and covers your Corporation Tax liability for the accounting period. 

You have to file it within 12 months of the end of your accounting period, though any Corporation Tax owed is due earlier, within nine months and one day of your year-end.

Since HMRC's joint filing service closed at the end of March 2026, you now need commercial software compatible with HMRC's requirements to submit your CT600. 

Your CT600 needs to include your full accounts, calculated in the iXBRL format, a version that tags each figure so HMRC's systems can read it. Most accounting software generates it automatically once you enter your figures.

💡 Did you know?

ANNA's Company Tax Return service prepares your CT600 using your bookkeeping records and files it directly with HMRC. That means less manual admin and more confidence that your figures are consistent. 

What happens if you file late?

If you file your annual accounts late, Companies House penalties will apply automatically and increase until you file.

These penalties double if you file late in two consecutive financial years, so a habit of missing deadlines gets progressively more expensive.

You can appeal a Companies House penalty, but only if the delay was caused by circumstances outside your control, such as a serious illness or a fire that destroyed records.

You’ll need the company number, penalty reference, and supporting evidence, and you can submit the appeal through Companies House’s online process. 

⚠️ Remember this

HMRC’s Corporation Tax penalties are separate from Companies House penalties. That means you could face penalties from both organisations if you miss the deadlines, even if the documents relate to the same accounting period. 

Use ANNA to file your company accounts with less admin

Preparing accounts from scratch is one of the most time-consuming parts of running a limited company, especially if your records have been scattered across spreadsheets and bank statements all year.

ANNA brings your bookkeeping and tax filing together, helping you turn your financial records into accurate returns without spending hours manually pulling information together.

With ANNA, you can:

• File your Company Tax Return directly with HMRC, with your CT600 prepared from the financial information already in your account.
• Keep your business transactions organised automatically, so you have clearer records when it's time to prepare your accounts.
• Categorise income and expenses as you go, reducing the manual work involved in sorting transactions at year-end.
• Create and manage invoices, and keep track of money coming into your business.
• Capture receipts straight from the app, so your supporting documents stay linked to your expenses.
• Track your income and spending in your business account, and always have a clear picture of your cash flow and performance.
• Track important tax deadlines and get reminders to stay on top of filing dates and avoid unnecessary penalties.
• Get 24/7 professional support for any tax-related questions, any time of day or night.

Open a business account with ANNA and get ahead of your company accounts admin.