Companies House Accounts Reform Is Confirmed for April 2028: Small UK Companies Must File a Profit & Loss — But Can Opt Out of Publishing It

For years, one of the quiet advantages of running a small UK limited company has been privacy. If your company qualified as "small" or "micro," you could file heavily stripped-back accounts with Companies House — often just a balance sheet, with no profit and loss account on the public record. That is now set to change.

On 9 June 2026, the UK government issued a written ministerial statement confirming how the accounts-filing reforms in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) will finally be implemented. After being announced for April 2027 and then paused in early 2026, the reforms now have a firm start date: April 2028.

Here is what is changing, what the government softened after listening to businesses, and what non-resident directors should do with the runway they have been given.

What Is Actually Changing

The confirmed reforms cover several parts of the accounts-filing process. Small companies and micro-entities will be required to file a profit and loss account with Companies House, just as larger companies already do. The option to file abridged accounts is being removed entirely. Companies claiming an audit exemption will have to give a strengthened eligibility statement. All companies will eventually be required to file their accounts using software in inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language (iXBRL) format, and the separate component parts of a set of accounts will have to be filed together rather than piecemeal.

The government also plans secondary legislation to reduce the number of times a company can shorten its accounting reference period, and to add annotations to the public register where a company has not complied with a notice about its accounts.

The Big One: "Balance Sheet Only" Filing Is Ending

The headline change for most non-resident owners is the end of minimal filing. Today, a genuinely small or micro company can file "filleted" accounts — essentially a balance sheet and a few notes — keeping turnover, profit, and margins off the public register. From April 2028, that route closes. A profit and loss account becomes part of what small and micro companies must file.

For founders who chose a UK company partly because competitors and customers could not easily see their numbers, this is a meaningful shift.

The New Opt-Out That Softens the Blow

After the reforms were paused, the government listened to concerns from the business and investment community about the commercial risk of exposing small companies' figures. The result is an important concession: small companies and micro-entities will still have to file a profit and loss account, but they will be able to opt out of having it published on the public register.

In other words, you will need to prepare and submit the profit and loss account, but you can choose to keep it off the version of the register the public can see. Companies House, HMRC, and law enforcement will still have access to the information to help tackle fraud and tax evasion. The government has said the detail of how smaller companies can opt out will be confirmed in due course, so the exact mechanism is not final yet.

Filing Moves to Software (iXBRL) Only

The reforms also confirm that, from April 2028, accounts must be filed in iXBRL format through commercial software. This is designed to make company data more consistent and easier to analyse. The practical consequence for directors is that the familiar free web-filing and paper routes for these accounts will no longer be the way to file. You will need accounts software that produces iXBRL output, or an agent or authorised corporate service provider who files on your behalf.

Other Changes Worth Knowing

There is also some good news on paperwork. ECCTA originally required small companies to file a directors' report, but the government has now confirmed it will remove the requirement for any company to produce a directors' report at all as part of its annual accounts. That reduces, rather than adds to, the compliance burden.

Why This Matters for Non-Resident Directors

If you run a small UK company from abroad, two things stand out. First, the privacy calculation has changed: you can no longer keep your profit and loss figures off the record entirely by default, though the opt-out means you can still keep them off the public register once the mechanism is confirmed. Second, filing is becoming more technical — you will need iXBRL-capable software or a professional filer, which matters more when you are managing everything remotely and cannot simply post paper forms.

The one piece of comfort is time. With implementation moved from April 2027 to April 2028, directors have a clear runway to prepare rather than scramble.

What to Do Before April 2028

Start by keeping clean, up-to-date bookkeeping so a proper profit and loss account is easy to produce when it becomes mandatory. Make sure your accounts will be filed through iXBRL-capable software or a reliable agent, rather than assuming the old free routes will still be available. And once the government publishes the detail of the profit-and-loss opt-out, decide whether keeping your figures off the public register is right for your business.

None of this requires action today, but the direction of travel is now fixed, and the companies that prepare early will find April 2028 far less disruptive.

Have Questions About Your Own Situation?

Every company's filing position is a little different, and the opt-out details are still being finalised. If you would like to talk it through with the MP Partner experts team — no pressure, no hard sell, just clear answers — we are happy to help.

Book a free consultation with our experts →