Can you amend your company accounts after you’ve submitted them?

It’s not unusual to spot a mistake after your company accounts have been filed. This could be anything from something minor to forgetting to include income or expenses before your accounts were prepared.

It’s also important to understand that company accounts need to be filed separately with both Companies House and HMRC.

In many cases, you may need to correct both.

In this guide, Kerry Newman, Head of SG Accounting, explains how the amendment process works.

Can you amend filed accounts?

Yes. Limited companies can file amended (revised) accounts after the original submission.

This applies whether the accounts were filed online or through your accountant, and whether the error is discovered shortly after submission or several months later.

Not every error will result in a formal amendment; it depends on whether the error is material.

Correcting minor vs significant errors

Minor, non-material errors, such as small rounding differences, will not usually require you to refile your accounts.

These can often be corrected in your next accounting period without taking any formal action.

Significant errors, on the other hand, must be handled with great care, ideally by your accountant.

---

---

If there are incorrect profit figures, if some transactions were omitted, or if anything could mislead someone relying on the accounts, they should be corrected as soon as possible.

How to amend accounts at Companies House

You can file a revised set of accounts with Companies House if you have updated the figures and/or notes in your company accounts. The new submission will replace the original filing and must be clearly marked as amended.

In practice, your accountant will usually regenerate and resubmit your full set of statutory accounts.

It’s worth noting that amending your accounts does not remove late filing penalties if the original submission was late. The amendment simply corrects the version displayed on the public record.

There is no fixed statutory deadline for amending accounts at Companies House, but directors are expected to correct errors as soon as they are identified.

Further guidance is available via GOV.UK’s overview of correcting company accounts.

What about your Corporation Tax return?

If the error affects the amount of profits your company made, you will also need to revisit and possibly amend your Corporation Tax return (CT600).

The company’s CT600 can be amended within 12 months of the original filing deadline. This gives you time to correct errors in your profit or expenses data, or other adjustments that affect your tax calculation.

If the corrections mean that your company owes additional tax, HMRC will usually charge interest from the original due date.

On the other hand, if the correction reduces your CT liability, your company may be entitled to a refund.

If you spot errors after the 12 month time window has expired, you will need to contact HMRC directly to make corrections.

An example

If your company has submitted accounts which show a £80,000 profit before correction, but you then realised that you failed to include £10,000 of legitimate business expenses, the original accounts will overstate your profits and your CT liability.

Your accountant will typically follow these steps to correct the error:

• prepare revised accounts showing the correct £70,000 profit
• file amended accounts with Companies House
• amend your Corporation Tax return to reflect the lower profit, including resubmitting the updated figures and, where required, revised accounts to HMRC

Do you always need to amend both?

Not necessarily. Some errors affect how your accounts are presented, but not your company’s tax liability, while others affect how much tax you owe, but not the statutory accounts.

In many cases, especially for small contractor companies, the same underlying error will often affect both.

This is why you and your accountant need to look at the big picture, not treat each filing as mutually exclusive.

Which deadlines should I be aware of?

There is no fixed statutory deadline for amending accounts at Companies House, but corrections should be made as soon as reasonably possible once an error is identified.

For Corporation Tax, you have a strict 12 month amendment window from the statutory filing deadline.

If the mistake relates to an earlier accounting period or spans multiple years, things can become more complex. You may need to restate prior figures or make disclosures in your next set of accounts.

When should you speak to an accountant?

Most contractor limited companies already use an accountant to prepare and file their accounts.

If you discover an error after filing, contact your accountant rather than trying to fix it yourself. Even small adjustments can create knock-on effects on your tax liability and previously paid dividends.

This is especially important if the error affects your company’s profits or Corporation Tax liability, or if you distributed dividends based on incorrect figures, which may need to be reversed or reclassified.

The sooner you involve your accountant, the simpler and lower-risk the correction process will be.