ECCTA 2023 – Government scales back Companies House accounts filing reforms
On 23 October 2026, Companies House announced that the Government would pause the proposed requirement for small companies and micro-entities to file profit and loss accounts. The announcement marks a significant change to the accounts filing reforms due to take effect from April 2028 under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA).
For smaller businesses, this is likely to be welcome news, reducing the additional filing burden that the reforms would have introduced. However, the wider move towards software-based filing remains firmly on track.
Our previous article on the accounts filing reforms can be found here.
What has changed?
The Government announced on 9 June 2026 that, from April 2028, small companies and micro-entities would be required to file profit and loss accounts with Companies House, although they would have been able to opt out of publication of that information on the public register. The reforms would also have removed the option to file abridged accounts.
Following recommendations from the Small Business Regulatory Taskforce, the Government has now paused those changes. During the pause:
- companies will continue to be able to file abridged accounts; and
- smaller companies will retain the option to remove, or "fillet", their profit and loss information from accounts filed at Companies House after 1 April 2028.
For many smaller businesses, this represents a welcome reduction in the additional compliance burden that the new regime would otherwise have imposed.
There is, however, a trade-off. One of the objectives of the ECCTA reforms is to improve the transparency, accuracy and reliability of information on the companies register. Pausing the requirement means Companies House will receive less financial information about smaller companies than had been envisaged under the June proposals.
The Government intends to use the pause to explore how filing with Companies House and HMRC can be streamlined as part of its "tell Government once" ambition.
What is still going ahead?
The pause does not apply to the April 2028 reforms as a whole.
All UK registered companies will still be required to file their accounts using commercial software in Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language (iXBRL) format. The existing web and paper routes for accounts filings will close from April 2028.
This applies whether a company files its accounts itself or uses an accountant or other third-party agent.
The Government has also confirmed that other planned reforms remain scheduled for April 2028, including strengthened eligibility statements for companies claiming an audit exemption, requiring the component parts of accounts and reports to be filed together and reducing the number of times a company can shorten its accounting reference period.
Comment
For small and micro businesses, the announcement is broadly good news. It removes, for now, an additional filing requirement and retains the existing flexibility around abridged and filleted accounts.
However, businesses should not lose sight of the reforms that remain. The practical priority is now software filing. Companies should check with their finance teams or accountants that their systems and processes will be ready for April 2028, rather than incurring time and cost preparing for a profit and loss filing requirement that has been paused.
The announcement is also the second significant change to the implementation of the accounts filing reforms. The implementation date was previously moved from April 2027 to April 2028, and the profit and loss filing requirement has now been paused with no replacement date announced.
For now, businesses should focus on the requirements that remain confirmed while keeping further developments under review.
