Overdue Company Accounts Filing in Sawbridgeworth

Overdue company accounts are the statutory accounts that should have been delivered to Companies House by the applicable filing deadline but have not yet been filed. The deadline is normally set by reference to the company's accounting reference period, so it is not the same for every company. Once that date has passed, the accounts remain outstanding until they are prepared and delivered. An overdue filing does not, on its own, mean the company has been dissolved or removed from the register — it means the required accounts are late.

The reasons vary. Directors may have stopped trading, changed accountants, lost access to bookkeeping records, assumed nothing needed filing, or simply missed the deadline during a busy period. Dormant or non-trading companies are sometimes overlooked, even though annual accounts filing obligations can still apply where the company is required to file. Whatever the cause, the position can usually be reviewed and the outstanding periods dealt with, depending on the records available and the company's circumstances.

Yes. Dormancy and overdue filing are separate matters. A dormant company can still be required to file annual accounts with Companies House, and if those accounts were not delivered by the applicable deadline, they become overdue in the same way as any other outstanding filing. If you are unsure whether your company's dormant status affects what has to be filed, we can look at the company's position and confirm what may be required.

Companies House can impose a late-filing penalty when accounts are delivered after the applicable deadline. The penalty that may apply depends on the circumstances, and the requirement to file the outstanding accounts is a separate obligation. Paying a penalty does not cancel the need to prepare and deliver the accounts. Where a penalty is issued and you believe there are grounds to appeal, eligibility depends on the circumstances and the applicable Companies House rules, and we can discuss that with you.

Where more than one accounting period is outstanding, each period generally needs to be addressed separately, which may mean preparing and filing several sets of accounts. Filing one set does not automatically clear the others. We can review how many periods remain outstanding, look at the records available for each and work through them in order, so the company's Companies House filing position can be brought up to date as far as possible.

In many cases, yes — the outstanding accounts still need to be prepared and delivered. If Companies House has written to the company about its filing obligations, that correspondence should be taken seriously and responded to promptly. Persistent non-compliance can increase the risk of compulsory strike-off action, and filing overdue accounts does not guarantee that any action already started will be halted. If a strike-off notice has been issued, or the company has already been dissolved, the matter may need separate restoration or legal advice rather than a straightforward overdue filing.

Yes. Statutory accounts are delivered to Companies House where required, while Corporation Tax Returns such as CT600 are submitted to HMRC where applicable. A confirmation statement is also a separate filing made to Companies House and is not replaced by filing overdue accounts. Submitting accounts to Companies House does not automatically satisfy HMRC Corporation Tax obligations. Where a company has several outstanding compliance matters, we can help you identify which filings sit with which authority.

Some companies may qualify for the micro-entity reporting framework, in which case micro-entity accounts prepared under FRS 105 could be appropriate. Not every small company qualifies, and eligibility depends on the company's legal structure, accounting period and circumstances. A company that should have filed another form of statutory accounts, such as small-company accounts, may need to prepare them on that basis instead. We confirm the applicable framework before any overdue accounts are prepared.

We help company directors in Sawbridgeworth review what is outstanding, prepare the overdue accounts using the available records and assist with filing them at Companies House. That typically involves gathering bookkeeping records, bank statements, invoices, expense details, previous accounts and company information, then confirming the figures with you before submission. We also explain how the accounts interact with other obligations, including confirmation statements and Corporation Tax matters, so you understand what still needs attention and what happens next.