What is Companies House?
Companies House is the UK government agency that registers limited companies and LLPs and keeps the public record of their accounts, officers and owners.
What Companies House is
Companies House is an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade. It incorporates and dissolves companies and limited liability partnerships, and keeps a free, searchable public register of their details: registered office, directors, people with significant control, share capital, charges and accounts.
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 gave it new powers to query and remove information. Changes include the appropriate address rules for registered offices, a required registered email address, and identity verification for directors and people with significant control, which is being phased in.
Example
A company is incorporated on 10 June 2025 with a year end of 30 June.
| Filing | Deadline | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmation statement made up to 9 June 2026 | 23 June 2026 | £50 online |
| First accounts | 10 March 2027 (21 months after incorporation) | None |
| Change of director or registered office | Within 14 days of the change | None |
What Companies House does not do
Companies House does not check most information in depth, approve business names beyond the legal rules, give tax advice or collect tax. It also does not regulate how companies trade. Its new powers mean it can query and reject filings that look wrong, and it shares information with other agencies when it suspects fraud.
Because the register is public, use it to check new customers and suppliers before giving credit: look at their filing history, directors and accounts.
Why it matters for your business
Everything you file is public, so suppliers, lenders and competitors can read your accounts and see who runs the company. Late accounts bring automatic penalties, and failing to file the confirmation statement or accounts can lead to the company being struck off, at which point its bank accounts are frozen and its assets pass to the Crown. Cloudkeepers files accounts and confirmation statements for clients so deadlines are not missed.
Companies House vs HMRC
Companies House is a registry; HMRC collects tax. They are separate bodies with separate logins and deadlines. Your annual accounts go to both, but the Company Tax Return (CT600) and tax payments go to HMRC only. Telling one about a change does not tell the other.
Common questions
No. Companies House is a separate government agency that keeps the register of companies. HMRC is the tax authority. They share some information, but you deal with each separately, and filing with one does not count as filing with the other.
Late accounts trigger automatic penalties from £150 to £1,500. If filings remain outstanding, Companies House can start striking the company off the register. Directors can also be prosecuted and fined for failing to file accounts or confirmation statements.