Companies House explained

If you've formed or are thinking about forming a limited company, Companies House is the body you'll interact with for its entire life. It's genuinely straightforward once you understand what it does and, just as importantly, what it doesn't. This guide covers both, plus the obligations that actually carry penalties if you miss them.

The quick answer: Companies House is the UK's registrar of companies. It records the existence of your limited company and its key details on a public register, and it's where you file your confirmation statement and annual accounts. It is not the tax authority, that's HMRC, and confusing the two is the most common mistake first-time directors make.

What Companies House actually does

Companies House is the official registrar of companies for the UK. When you form a limited company, it's Companies House that incorporates it, assigns its company number, and records its founding details. Throughout the company's life, it holds the public record of who runs and owns the company, where it's registered, and its filed accounts.

Its role is registration and public record-keeping, not tax collection and not judging whether your business is a good idea. It checks that filings are complete and consistent and that company names don't conflict or breach the rules, but it doesn't assess your commercial prospects. If you haven't formed your company yet, our how to register a company guide walks through the process itself.

What's on the public register

This is the part that surprises people most. A significant amount of information about your company is published on the Companies House register and is searchable by anyone, for free. That includes the company name and number, the registered office address, the names of directors, information about people with significant control (broadly, those owning or controlling more than 25%), and your filed accounts.

The practical implication worth flagging early: if you use your home address as your registered office, that address becomes publicly searchable. Many small companies do this and are fine with it, but if you'd rather keep your home address private, a registered office service (a small annual cost) lets you do that. It's a decision worth making deliberately at formation rather than discovering after the fact.

Your filing obligations

Two recurring filings matter most, and both are dated from your incorporation date:

The confirmation statement. At least once a year, you confirm that the information Companies House holds about your company is accurate and up to date, directors, registered office, shareholders, people with significant control. Even if nothing has changed, and even if the company hasn't traded, you still need to file it.

Annual accounts. Your company must file accounts each year describing its financial position. Small companies can usually file simpler ("abridged" or micro-entity) accounts, but the obligation to file something remains regardless of how much the company traded.

Beyond these, you must also keep Companies House updated when things change, appointing or removing a director, changing your registered office, issuing shares, and so on. Good accounting software and, usually, an accountant keep you on top of all of this. Making sure these filings happen on time is one of a director's core responsibilities, our director responsibilities guide covers the full picture.

Keeping your company details current

Your obligations to Companies House aren't only annual. Certain changes need to be reported when they happen, not just confirmed once a year on the confirmation statement. These include appointing or removing a director, changing the registered office address, changing the company name, and issuing or transferring shares. Some changes have their own deadlines, and letting the public register drift out of date is both a compliance issue and a practical one, third parties (banks, clients, credit agencies) rely on that register being accurate. Reporting changes promptly through the online service, or having your accountant do it, keeps everything clean.

Dormant and non-trading companies

A common misconception is that a company which isn't trading has nothing to file. It does. A dormant or non-trading limited company still exists as a legal entity, and it still owes Companies House its confirmation statement and (usually simpler) dormant accounts each year. If you form a company and then don't use it, you can't simply ignore it, you either keep filing, or formally close it down. Leaving a company to accumulate missed filings is the most common route to an involuntary strike-off and avoidable penalties, so if you're not going to use a company, it's better to close it properly than to abandon it.

Companies House vs HMRC, the difference that trips people up

These are two entirely separate bodies with separate obligations, and conflating them is the single most common source of confusion for new directors.

Companies House handles the company's existence and public record: forming it, holding its details, receiving the confirmation statement and annual accounts.

HMRC handles tax: Corporation Tax, VAT, PAYE, and Self Assessment. Registering your company at Companies House does not register it for Corporation Tax, that's a separate step you must take with HMRC after you start trading.

So a limited company effectively answers to both: Companies House for its existence and record, HMRC for its tax. Filing your accounts with Companies House is not the same as filing your Corporation Tax return with HMRC, they're different filings, to different bodies, often on different timelines.

What happens if you miss a filing

Companies House filings carry automatic penalties for lateness, and the penalties increase the longer a filing is overdue. Persistent failure to file can ultimately lead to the company being struck off the register (effectively closed down) and, in serious cases, to consequences for the directors personally.

The system is automated, so the penalties apply regardless of whether the delay was an innocent oversight. The defence is simple and boring: know your dates, which are set from your incorporation date, and put them somewhere you'll actually see them. This is one of the clearest practical reasons small companies benefit from an accountant, keeping filings on time is precisely the kind of thing they handle as a matter of course.

Using Companies House yourself vs an agent

You can interact with Companies House directly, forming a company, filing your confirmation statement, updating details, all through its online service. Many directors do exactly this, especially for a simple company. Alternatively, a formation agent or accountant can handle filings on your behalf. Neither route changes your company's legal status, an agent simply does the filing for you. For the recurring statutory filings specifically, most companies find an accountant worth it precisely because a missed deadline is both easy to do and automatically penalised.

FAQs

Is Companies House the same as HMRC? No. Companies House registers companies and holds their public record. HMRC is the tax authority. They're separate bodies with separate obligations, and registering with one doesn't register you with the other.

What happens if I miss my confirmation statement? Late filing carries penalties, and persistent failure can lead to the company being struck off the register. The confirmation statement is due at least annually from your incorporation date, even if nothing has changed.

Can my company be struck off? Yes, persistent failure to file, or a deliberate application to close it, can result in a company being struck off the register. Missing filings is a common route to an involuntary strike-off, which is avoidable by keeping filings current.

Is my home address public if I use it as my registered office? Yes, the registered office address is published on the public register. If you'd rather keep your home address private, a registered office service lets you use a different address for the public record.

Do I still file if my company didn't trade? Yes. Both the confirmation statement and annual accounts are still due even for a dormant or non-trading company, the obligations follow the company's existence, not its activity.