Government’s tax arm is set to close a tax return service, with people who run limited companies and use Companies House warned.
HMRC is set to make a major Companies House change – with thousands of taxpayers warned. The Labour Party government’s tax arm is set to close a tax return service, with people who run limited companies and use Companies House warned.
Under the shake-up, HMRC is changing the way you can submit your tax return from 2026. The new rules kick in in March.
HMRC and Companies House will close their joint online filing service which lets small business owners file their annual accounts and company tax returns at the same time, because it no longer ‘meets modern digital standards’.
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From 1 April 2026, business owners will need to submit their tax return and accounts using third-party commercial software. Taxpayers will switch to a third-party commercial software before the planned closure.
From the next tax year, you’ll need to submit the following to HMRC using third-party software: CT600, CT computation and company accounts. You’ll also need to continue filing your annual accounts with Companies House.
The service to support small, unrepresented businesses with simple tax affairs with their online filing does not meet modern digital standards, or recent changes to UK company law. Since online filing for Corporation Tax was introduced in 2011, the market has matured and grown.
HMRC states: “Plan how you’re going to file your annual accounts and Company Tax Return. You can start using commercial software at any time, you don’t need to tell HMRC or Companies House.
“You’ll need to use the HMRC online service to download and save at least the last 3 years filed returns. Go to the ‘track your submissions’ page and select the period you want to save a copy of your return for.
“Select either the ‘HMRC’ or ‘Companies House’ submission link. On the filing summary page, select ‘save your return in HTML’. You will be asked where to save the file or it will download to a folder on your computer.
c”You must do this on or before 31 March 2026, You will not be able to access your previous returns after this date.”
