@QFSupport
Hi
Like I expect many people I have received an email today from Companies House with the subject line:
Changes to accounts filing – important update from Companies House
While at the moment the company has an accountant, it is such a simple comapany, that it was not my intention to continue with an accountant. With 40 years in business I was pretty certain I could do it myself but then the bureaucrats get in the way.
Following the various bits of guidance on filing accounts with Software I arrived at:
which lists software that can be used to submit the accounts.
It does not list Quickfile or interestingly QuickBooks but does list Xero. The latter being the one I decided against (clunking expensive slow and treats you like an idiot unlike QF) when I chose QuickFile.
Does this mean I am going to have to stop using QuickFile and I switch to say Xero or:
- List item Is QF planning to get authorised to be able to submit accounts to CH
- If not is there intermediate software that I can use to take the figures from QF and send to CH?
Thank you.
Regards
Michael
Hello @3Unique
Thank you for getting in touch.
As you’re likely aware, HMRC and Companies House have announced plans to close their joint corporate tax filing service by April 2027. This change will require businesses to use commercial software to file Company Accounts and Corporation Tax returns separately.
At this time, QuickFile has no current plans to develop a Corporation Tax and Accounts filing service for limited companies.
However, you do have two options to consider going forward:
- File through one of our panel accountants – This is a straightforward and fully managed service, with fees starting at approximately £100 + VAT per company.
Year-end accounts price comparison service
https://support.quickfile.co.uk/t/year-end-accounts-price-comparison-service/12003
- Use a third-party self-filing service – HMRC maintains a list of approved commercial software providers, which you can access at the following link (please refer to packages that are “suitable for self-filers”):
Corporation Tax Commercial Software Suppliers
We remain fully committed to adopt the planned rollout of HMRC’s Making Tax Digital program for Limited Companies. Regrettably, due to the depth and complexity of the Corporate Tax and Accounts Filing regime, we are unable to develop software for the existing gateway.
If you have any further questions or need help connecting with an accountant, feel free to reach out.
Hi Steve
Thank you for your quick reply
Only a bureaucrat could would actually implement something retrograde but of course small companies have nothing better to do that sit around filling out government forms, so I suppose one must see it as a welcome distraction from creating wealth (and taxes) for the state.
Thank you for the details on the accountants and self-filing services. I will look at both of these in due course.
Regards
Michael
The update you received is part of a major shift in how the UK handles corporate data. While your desire to handle things yourself after 40 years is perfectly understandable, the “bureaucrats” have indeed changed the rules of the game to mandate a digital-first approach.
Thank you for your comment.
My comment related to the above. I am not a technophobe or technical luddite. I wrote and published my first web site back in 1997 and was such an early adopter of Adwords that Google send me a Christmas present two years running and I think my first version of Quickbooks was 2003. I am still coding now with the help of Cursor AI.
As for the digital first approach I have been doing everything online with CH, HMRC, VAT etc etc for literally longer than I can remember.
What irritates is the people who come up with these changes don’t live in the real world and the day to issues of running a small business.
I can handle the data myself and will continue to do so (having read Steve’s very helpful comment) but the way I am obliged to handle it myself is not how I would have designed the system.
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The push for mandatory iXBRL tagging ensures that every “dot” of financial data—from gross profit to administrative expenses—is machine-readable. This structural change acts like a sophisticated SOS in morse code for the UK’s financial regulators, designed to flag inconsistencies and combat economic crime with higher precision than manual web forms ever allowed.