Small firms spared Companies House filing demand – Daily Business

Filing burden lifted for small firms

Small firms will no longer be required to file more detailed accounts to Companies House after the UK government agreed to suspend the plan.

The planned change would have required two million micro businesses and incorporated sole traders to prepare and provide more information to Companies House, including a complete profit and loss (P&L) statement and balance sheet. 

It had been due to take effect next April as part of the 2023 Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act.

The government said giving Companies House access to P&L accounts for all companies would help crack down on fraud, tax evasion and other economic crimes. About 60% of the UK’s £47 billion tax gap is attributed to underpayment by small and medium-sized businesses.

However, it has recognised business concerns about commercial confidentiality, as well as the administrative burden of the requirement.

Tina McKenzie, national chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said the decision was “a huge step in the right direction, averting a huge new weight of red tape on the very businesses with the fewest resources to deal with it.”

Lena Levy, deputy director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said it was important that the pause was “used as a genuine opportunity to streamline filing processes. It must not be just a delay to bringing in the requirements at a later stage.”

The decision is regarded as one of a series of planned regulatory reforms which the government said would save businesses millions of pounds a year.

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