Companies House late filing penalties - the current bands and how to avoid them

You may have seen claims circulating that Companies House late filing penalties doubled from 1 May 2024. Before repeating that, it is worth checking the source. The current Companies House guidance on late filing penalties (last updated January 2026) sets out the bands in force, and its full update history, which goes back to 2014, records no doubling of these bands on 1 May 2024 or on any other date. Here are the figures that actually apply.

The penalty bands

• For a private company or LLP: £150 if filed up to 1 month late, £375 if 1 to 3 months late, £750 if 3 to 6 months late, and £1,500 if more than 6 months late.
• For a public company: £750, £1,500, £3,000 and £7,500 across the same lateness bands.

These penalties apply automatically. There is no warning letter and no reminder before the deadline counts as an excuse, so the only safe approach is to know your date and file well before it.

The filing deadlines

For a private company, accounts must reach Companies House within 9 months of the year-end (6 months for a public company). If you change your company's year-end date, the filing deadline moves with it, which is where many penalties arise: if the new deadline has already passed on the date you make the change, you will be charged a late filing penalty, and any extension you had to the old deadline falls away. You also cannot change the year-end at all while the accounts are overdue.

How to avoid a penalty

• Diary the deadline as soon as the year-end passes - 9 months after the year-end for most private companies.
• File online in good time, not on the last day. Systems go down and submissions get rejected; leave a margin.
• If the deadline is slipping, file what you can as soon as possible. Because penalties are banded by lateness, every month you shave off reduces the charge.
• Keep your registered office details and email up to date so Companies House reminders actually reach you.
• If you are considering changing your year-end, check the new filing deadline before you submit the change, not after.

One last note: the May 2024 date in the rumour likely comes from confusion with other Companies House changes around that time, but the late filing penalty bands themselves were not doubled. If in doubt, always verify figures against the current GOV.UK guidance rather than social media.