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Aardvark Dormant Accounts: FAQs

Filing dormant company accounts with Companies House is a legal requirement for all UK limited companies, even when they have no trading activity. Aardvark helps you prepare and file compliant dormant accounts online in minutes, generating iXBRL documents that meet FRC taxonomy standards and HMRC requirements. Whether you're filing for a micro-entity, a newly incorporated company, or a long-established dormant business, this FAQ covers everything you need to know about the filing process, eligibility criteria, authentication codes, deadlines, and your obligations to both Companies House and HMRC.

1. Dormant Account Basics & Regulatory Rules

While a company may be considered "dormant" in a general sense, Companies House and HMRC apply specific regulatory definitions that dictate your filing requirements.

AuthorityDefinition of Dormancy
Companies HouseA company is dormant if it has had no "significant accounting transactions" during the relevant financial year.
HMRCA company is dormant if it has stopped trading, has no other income (such as investments), and carries no Corporation Tax liability.

The gov.uk website has guidance on dormant company accounts here: https://www.gov.uk/dormant-company

Significant Accounting Transactions

To maintain dormant status for Companies House, a company must not have any financial activity except for the following three permitted exceptions:

  • Filing fees paid to Companies House.
  • Late filing penalties issued by Companies House.
  • Initial share payments made by subscribers when the company was first incorporated.

Dormant vs. Non-trading Companies

A "non-trading" company is not automatically "dormant." A non-trading company may have ceased its primary business operations but could still undertake transactions such as paying dividends, professional or bank fees, or even receiving interest on a bank account. You may have stopped trading the year before, but still have received payments from trade debtors. These activities qualify as "trading" or "significant transactions" (the "significant" notion is a bit misleading, even 1p can be "significant"), which prevent the company from being classified as dormant. To be dormant, there must be a total absence of these activities.

As part of our service, Aardvark will try to verify that your company meets the dormant criteria before proceeding. In particular, we look at the previous year's accounts to check if there are any balance sheet items that mean it is unlikely you meet the dormant criteria. Examples of this include trade creditors, trade debtors, or other liabilities. If we find any of these, we will inform you that your company is unlikely to be dormant and that you may need to seek more advanced software or an accountant to help you file your accounts. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to ensure that your company meets the dormant criteria.

Notifying HMRC About Dormancy

Important: Filing dormant accounts with Companies House (which Aardvark does for you) is separate from notifying HMRC about your company's dormant status for Corporation Tax purposes. You should also tell HMRC that your company is dormant.

This is free and can be done online. To notify HMRC, you will need:

  • Your company's name
  • Your 10-digit Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR)
  • The date your company stopped trading (if it began trading)

After you tell HMRC your company is dormant, you will not have to file another Company Tax Return unless HMRC asks you to or you begin trading again. You can notify HMRC online at https://www.gov.uk/tell-hmrc-your-company-is-dormant-for-corporation-tax

How to Make a Company Dormant

If you have a company that has been trading and you wish to make it dormant, there are several important steps to take in the year BEFORE you become dormant (and please note, this is just our list, not official advice - you should check with an accountant or HMRC if you are unsure):

  1. Stop all trading activity: Cease all business operations, including sales, purchases, and any income-generating activities.
  2. Close your bank account or keep it at zero balance: Maintaining a business bank account that generates interest or incurs fees can prevent your company from being truly dormant. Consider closing the account or ensuring it has a zero balance. If you must keep the account open, be aware that even small amounts of interest may constitute "significant transactions". Or, that the bank may charge fees for having an account, which would also be a "significant transaction" and prevent your company from being dormant.
  3. Settle all debts and collect all payments: Before becoming dormant, you should pay off all creditors and collect any money owed to you. Outstanding trade debtors or creditors on your balance sheet may make it difficult to file dormant accounts. Note that it's no good to have outstanding debtors or creditors on your balance sheet at the start of the financial year, and then pay them off during the year. The balance sheet for these should be zero at the start of the year - and stay zero throughout.
  4. Terminate or suspend employee contracts: Strictly speaking, a dormant company should not have employees on its payroll. If your company has employees, you must terminate their employment before it becomes dormant. You will need to:
    • Process final payroll and file final PAYE submissions with HMRC
    • Provide employees with their final payslips and P45 forms showing their employment has ended
    • Close your PAYE scheme with HMRC once all employees have left
    • Make any required pension contributions and notify your pension provider
    If directors were previously paid a salary, this must also cease. Directors can remain as officers of the company without being employees. Note: Some companies report directors as "employees" on their accounts even when unpaid. Our software will accept submissions with a small non-zero employee count, but you should verify this is appropriate with an accountant if unsure.
  5. Notify HMRC: Tell HMRC that your company is dormant for Corporation Tax purposes (as described in the section above). You will likely need to file a final Company Tax Return covering the period up to when the company stopped trading (note - our software can't do this!).
  6. File final trading accounts: Before filing dormant accounts, you must file a final set of trading accounts covering the period when the company was active. These accounts will show the trading activity up to the date you stopped trading.
  7. File dormant accounts for subsequent periods: Once the company has been dormant for a full accounting period, you can file dormant accounts for that period.

Important: Aardvark is designed for companies that are already dormant. We cannot file the final trading accounts for a company transitioning from trading to dormant status. You will need to use traditional accounting software or hire an accountant for your final trading accounts. Once those are filed and your company has been dormant for a complete accounting period, you can use Aardvark to file your subsequent dormant accounts.

Other Required Filings for Dormant Companies

Sadly, even though your company is dormant, you still have legal obligations to file other documents with Companies House. Aardvark only handles the filing of annual accounts - you remain responsible for:

  • Confirmation Statement: You must file a confirmation statement at least once every 12 months. This confirms that the information Companies House holds about your company is correct. The confirmation statement must be filed even if nothing has changed. There is a £50 fee to file online (or £110 by post). You can read more about this here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/filing-your-companys-confirmation-statement. You can file through the Companies House WebFiling service at https://ewf.companieshouse.gov.uk/. Please note, as part of the confirmation statement you can update your SIC code. Dormant companies should use the SIC code 99999.
  • Director Identity Verification: You must verify your identity with Companies House. This is a one-time process for each director and is required before you can file accounts (and other things at Companies House). You can find guidance on this process at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/verifying-your-identity-for-companies-house. Once you've verified your identity, you can see your identification code and the companies you are connected with at https://identity.company-information.service.gov.uk/user/account (after completing the very confusing log in process).
  • Person with Significant Control (PSC) Verification: You must verify your identity with Companies House. This is a one-time process for each PSC and is required as part of the confirmation statement process. Guidance as above.
  • Changes to company information: You must notify Companies House of any changes to your company details, including changes of director, registered office address, or share capital.
  • PSC Register: You must maintain and file information about persons with significant control over your company.

Failure to file required documents can result in penalties and potentially lead to your company being struck off the register.

There is a useful web page at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/being-a-company-director that covers your broader responsibilities as a director.

2. Eligibility & Service Scope

Aardvark is a specialized filing tool designed for "straightforward" dormant accounts. Use the following checklist to determine if your company can use our £9 service:

  • Company Type: Must be a private limited company limited by shares (type 'Ltd').
  • Company Status: Must be active, not liquidated, with no insolvency history, no charges (mortgages/security), and registered office not in dispute.
  • Exclusion: Community Interest Companies (CICs), public limited companies (PLCs), and companies limited by guarantee are not supported.
  • Group Companies: Aardvark supports both dormant holding companies (companies that own shares in subsidiaries) and dormant subsidiaries (companies owned by a parent). These are common use cases for dormant entities. The system can handle intercompany balances such as amounts owed to/from group undertakings.
  • Financial Threshold: Must meet "micro-entity" thresholds, specifically the total balance sheet (total assets) must not exceed £500,000.
  • Activity: Must have had no significant accounting transactions (excluding the three exceptions listed in Section 1).
  • Notes to the Accounts: Aardvark generates standard dormant accounts with basic disclosures. We cannot support companies requiring complex notes, additional narrative disclosures, or bespoke accounting treatments beyond the standard dormant accounts template.

UK Jurisdictions Supported

Aardvark supports companies registered in all UK jurisdictions including England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Whether your company number is an 8-digit number (England and Wales companies) or begins with the SC prefix (Scottish companies) or NI prefix (Northern Ireland companies), our service will handle your filing correctly for Companies House. (Please note: Unfortunately, Aardvark does not currently support filing in Welsh)

First-Year Filings for Newly Incorporated Companies

Aardvark supports companies filing their first set of accounts after incorporation. For newly formed companies that have remained dormant since incorporation (with no trading activity), our system will:

  • Automatically retrieve your incorporation documents from Companies House to extract share capital information
  • Build your first balance sheet based on the original share capital structure
  • Generate fully compliant dormant accounts ready for filing

You will be asked to confirm whether the initial share capital has been paid or remains unpaid. Either is fine, but if you say it has been paid you should get your shareholders to give you some cash and keep it somewhere (this doesn't have to be a company bank account - it could be in an envelope - and of course having a bank account where the bank charges fees would mean you aren't dormant...). For companies filing their second or subsequent set of accounts, we automatically read your previous year's accounts and roll forward the balance sheet.

The first set of accounts are due 21 months after incorporation (the first accounting period can be up to 12 months, plus 9 months filing deadline after the year end). However, you can file much earlier. For example, if you incorporated on 15 August, your first year might run from 15 August to 31 August the following year, meaning you could file in September. Why wait when it's just a few clicks! Subsequent accounts are due 9 months after the end of each financial year.

When to Consult an Accountant

Our software is not suitable for companies with complex requirements. You should seek professional advice if the company:

  • Has complex shareholding or high-volume historical transactions.
  • Has traded in the past and requires additional financial disclosures.
  • Requires specific legal or tax navigation.

Service Disclaimer

Aardvark provides a digital filing tool to facilitate the submission of accounts to Companies House. We do not offer accounting, legal, or tax advice, and we do not verify the accuracy of the data entered by the user.

3. Technical Security & Data Integrity

Aardvark utilizes robust technical protocols to ensure all government communications meet strict regulatory standards for security and precision.

  • GovTalk Messages: All submissions are structured as valid GovTalk messages, the official XML standard for UK government gateways.
  • SSL Encryption: The entire platform is protected by SSL encryption to secure data in transit.
  • Strict Audit Trail: Every transaction is recorded with a unique database identifier and a transaction ID (formatted as an uppercase string of up to 32 hex characters) to ensure full compliance.
  • Removal of Sensitive Data: Once we've processed your submission, your company authentication code is immediately deleted from our systems.

iXBRL Generation

The system automatically generates iXBRL (Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language) documents that meet UK FRC (Financial Reporting Council) taxonomy standards. The system can parse incorporation documents in both English and Welsh, though filings can only be submitted in English.

4. Billing, Payments, and the Refund Policy

How You Are Charged

To protect our users, Aardvark uses an "Authorize-then-Capture" payment flow:

  1. Authorization: A £9 authorization is placed on your card before submission.
  2. Submission: The filing process begins once authorization is confirmed.
  3. Capture: The fee is only taken if Companies House officially accepts the filing.
  4. Rejection: If the filing is rejected for any reason, no charge is taken (the authorization is released).

No Refund/No Cancellation Policy

Once the submission process has been initiated, it cannot be canceled, and refunds are not possible. By using the service, you provide express consent for the immediate performance of the filing. Consequently, the statutory 14-day cooling-off period for consumers ends immediately upon the start of the submission.

Payment Method Advice

We strongly advise using a personal card for the £9 fee. Using a business account card can be interpreted as a "significant transaction," which could inadvertently void your company's dormant status.

5. The Filing Process & Authentication

3-Step Filing Workflow

  1. Company Search: Locate your company using official Companies House data.
  2. Review Balance Sheet: Confirm the extracted figures and worded statements.
  3. Authentication: Enter your security codes to finalize the submission.

Authentication Codes & Regulatory Updates

  • Company Authentication Code: You must provide the 6-digit alphanumeric code issued by Companies House. If lost, this must be requested by post via the government website.
  • Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023: In the near future, directors will also be required to use their 11-character personal code to complete filings. (Note: this isn't required at the moment).

Obtaining a Companies House Authentication Code

If you need to obtain a Companies House authentication code (either for the first time or to replace a lost code), follow these steps:

  1. Log in to Companies House at https://idam-ui.company-information.service.gov.uk/account/login/
  2. Click on Your companies
  3. Click on File for this company
  4. Click on Company authentication
  5. Request a code at https://ewf.companieshouse.gov.uk/runpage?page=companyWebFilingRegister (this link only works if you are logged in)

If you have lost your authentication code: Before requesting a new code, you must first cancel the existing one. In the Cancel company authentication code section, click I wish to cancel the company's authentication code then Cancel code. After cancellation, you can request a new code using the link above.

The authentication code will be sent to the company's registered office address by post and typically arrives within 5 working days.

Please note, this information was correct as at March 2026, and may be subject to change.

Signatories

For multi-director companies, you must select the specific director who will act as the signatory. For single-director companies, the software automatically assigns the sole director to streamline the process.

6. Deadlines & Post-Filing Information

Standard Filing Deadlines

  • Existing Companies: 9 months after the financial year-end.
  • New Companies: 21 months after the date of incorporation for the first set of accounts.

Late Filing Penalties

Late filings incur automatic civil penalties starting at £150. Failure to file may also result in Companies House initiating strike-off action to dissolve the company. The user remains solely responsible for monitoring deadlines.

Post-Submission Outcome

Companies House typically approves dormant filings within 48 hours. You will receive an email confirmation once the outcome is determined.

HMRC Compliance: VAT & PAYE

Filing with Companies House does not fulfill all HMRC obligations. If your company is entering dormancy:

  • VAT: If you do not intend to trade again, you must deregister for VAT within 30 days. If you plan to trade again later, you must file "nil" returns.
  • PAYE: If you do not plan to employ staff this tax year, you should close your PAYE scheme.
  • Corporation Tax: You may still need to notify HMRC of dormancy or file a "nil" return if you have received a "Notice to Deliver a Company Tax Return."