Penalties for Late Filing (private limited companies)

• Up to one (1) month after the deadline: Penalty £150
• One to three months after the deadline: Penalty £375
• Three to six months after the deadline: Penalty £750
• More than six months after the deadline: Penalty £1,500

Note: Late filing penalties differ for public limited companies (PLC).

Sending late annual accounts to Companies House for two years in a row means the penalty would double.

Note: You must send your accounts orconfirmation statementto Companies House. Failing to do so can result in a fine and your company can get struck off the register.

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Appealing a Late Filing Penalty (LFP)

You would be able to appeal against a late filing penalty. But, you would need a valid reason for not filing your annual accounts on time.

As a rule, you must be able to prove the circumstances were out of your control and they made it impossible for you to meet the filing deadlines. An example could be that your records got destroyed by a fire shortly before the accounts were due.

Thus, you would not be able to appeal against a late filing penalty by claiming that you cannot afford to pay, or:

• Your company is ‘dormant’ or you were unsure how and when to file them.
• The fault rests with accountant (or any other person).
• The statutory accounts got lost or delayed in the post.
• The directors were travelling overseas at the time or they live outside the United Kingdom.

The front page of the penalty invoice contains an address for sending an appeal letter. You can also send an email to Companies House (remember to include the penalty reference).

Companies House
Email: [email protected]

As a rule, Companies House will respond within ten (10) working days of receiving your appeal letter. They would not collect the late filing penalty from you while the appeal is being considered.

You can write to the Senior Casework Unit (SCU) if the Companies House office reject your appeal. The SCU is the Late Filing Penalties Department that would be dealing with your account.

Note: You can write to the Independent Adjudicators and ask them to review your case if SCU reject your appeal. The government publishes further guidance that also explains late filing penalties in different situations.

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