Important Update: Companies House Fees To Increase

To ensure that the fees at Companies House cover the cost of the services they provide, Companies House has reported a plan to increase fees from the 1st May 2024. Companies House review their fees on a yearly basis to ensure the fees are set at the correct level, however these have not increased for sometime.

A Companies House representative has said the increase in fees will fund and support their ongoing operations and activities related to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. The Act introduces a few provisions, including delivering reforms to Companies House and reforms to prevent misuse of limited partnership.

Limited Companies Fees

Current Companies House fees

Service - LTD	Online Fee	Software Fee	Paper Fee
Incorporation	£12	£10	£40
Incorporation (Same-day)		£30
Confirmation Statement	£13	£13	£40
Change of Name	£8	£8	£10
Change of Name (Same-day)	£30	£30
Closing Down Protection/Voluntary Strike Off	£8		£10

New Companies House fees as of 1 May 2024

Service - LTD	Digital/Software	Paper Fee
Incorporation	£50	£71
Incorporation (Same-day)	£78
Confirmation Statement	£34	£62
Change of Name	£20	£30
Change of Name (Same-day)	£83
Closing Down Protection/Voluntary Strike Off	£33	£44

£10 For Limited Liability Partnerships, you can also expect the updated Companies House filing fees to be similar to those for Limited Companies.

To see the extensive pricing list for other services by Companies House, please click here.

What are the other updates that I should be aware of?

Accounts Changes

Currently, Companies House expects micro and small entities to submit abridged accounts, which are just the balance sheet that is publicly displayed on the Company House website. However, with Companies House's quest to streamline their processes and for purposes of greater transparency, soon all businesses will be expected to also file their profit and loss statement alongside their balance sheet. Information on how detailed the accounts should be and the release date has not been provided yet, but we will be able to update you on the details once we have received further notice!

Small Companies will be expected to also file the directors' report alongside the annual accounts. Micro Companies, on the other hand, will have the option to file a directors' report but will also be expected to file full accounts.

Also, Companies House is seeking to digitalise submission of accounts to companies house through software providers and soon remove the option of paper filing for companies with complex accounts. At some point, they will also be closing their Companies House WebFiling service too. This means software providers such as Easy Digital can help you meet your filing needs and allow you to focus on your business needs.

Confirmation Statement Changes

From 4th March, companies will be expected to provide a registered email address to Companies House. This will not be published on the public register.

For companies that already exist, the email address can be provided when the next Confirmation Statement is filed with a date from 5 March 2024. Software's that offer this service will prompt you to provide the email address. Companies that are newly registered will be required to provide an registered email address when they incorporate, from 4th March. It is important to note that companies should maintain this email address, as Companies House will communicate with you via this email regarding your company,

Also, from 4th March, the 'Statement of Lawful Purpose' will be expected to be implemented. For new companies that incorporate from 4th March, the subscribers (shareholders) are required to confirm that the company's formation is intended for lawful purposes. When filing Confirmation Statements each year, it is expected that you confirm the company's proposed future activities are indeed lawful. Failure to do so will risk in Companies House rejecting documents submitted to them.

Registered Address Rules

Alongside new updates to the Confirmation Statement, Companies House expect companies to have an 'appropriate address' as their registered office at all times from 4th March 2024. An appropriate address is one where: any documents sent to that address can be recorded by recognition of delivery and the person acting on behalf of the company is aware of any documents sent to that registered address.

This will mean that the use of a PO box address will not be an acceptable registered office address. Please remember to make changes to your company's registered address online before 4 March 2024 if this is applicable to you (use of PO box address).

Marginal Relief

Tax Changes introduced in 1 April 2023 has resulted in your company or organisation to potentially claim marginal relief. Let's see what this means for you.

So what are the tax rates?

The Corporation Tax rate is still 19%, known as the small profit rate, for taxable profits below £50,000. If your organisation is earning above £250,000, the profits will be taxed at the main rate of 25%. Now, if your taxable profits are between £50,000 and £250,000 from 1 April 2023, your company may be able to claim Marginal Relief.

There are some factors to consider that may affect how much marginal relief can be claimed:

The closer your taxable profits are to £250,000, the small the amount of marginal relief can be claimed.
If your accounting period is less than 12 months, the lower (£50,000) and upper (£250,000) limits will also be proportionately reduced. Hence, affecting and reducing the amount of marginal relief that can be claimed.
If you company has a number of associated companies; the lower and upper limits will be proportionality reduced by the total number of companies. Thus, also reducing the amount of marginal relief that can be claimed.

Claiming Marginal relief is subject to the following certain exceptions:

Your company earned taxable profits above £250,000.
Your company is a non-UK resident company (overseas entity).
Your company is a close investment holding company.

Luckily for our software users, this is all calculated for you when you complete the necessary fields in your Corporation Tax Return! If you are interested in seeing how it is calculated, you can visit HMRC’s link where you can receive a breakdown based on your entered figures.

Research & Development

If you are not already aware, from 1 April 2023, HMRC has made changes to Research and Development claims. Here are the changes to R&D for SMEs at a glance:

Enhancement rate for qualifying expenditure has reduced from 130% to 86%.
The SME Tax credit for loss-making companies has reduced from 14.5% to 10%. For R&D intensive SMEs, the tax credit remains at 14.5%
Data licence and cloud computing service costs are now qualifying R&D expenditure. Also, activities in relation to pure mathematics are eligible for relief too!
From the 8 Aug 2023, HMRC requires an additional information form to be filed before the R&D claim in the CT600 Return can be filled. This supplementary information provides better insight into your company's R&D expenditure and project details. For more in-depth information on this requirement and what is expected from HMRC , visit this link.

What more can I expect from 1 April 2024?

To simplify R&D relief, the government is looking to merge the current SME and RDEC schemes into 1 tax relief scheme for simplicity and to enhance the current system. HMRC hopes this will further promote innovation in UK companies to work on science and technology projects, to grow the UK economy.

Also there are some changes to the SME intensive scheme to be expected. For a company to be considered as R&D intensive, the qualifying expenditure has to be 40% and more, than its total expenditure. From 1 April 2023, you can expect a reduction in the threshold from 40% to 30%., which will mean more companies will be benefit from the R&D intensive scheme. This is applicable for accounting periods that start on or after 1 April 2024.

Once we have more information on this and other R&D relevant changes, we will be able to update you on the key details.

Energy Bill Scheme comes to an end

With the constant rise of the energy crisis, last year, HMRC introduced the Energy Bills Discount Scheme, which runs from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 to provide support to UK businesses. This scheme was available to businesses, voluntary sector organisations like charities and organisations in the public sector such as schools, hospitals and care homes that were on a non-domestic energy supply contract with a licensed energy supplier.

With this scheme and your business energy contact coming to an end, it is best that your organisation has a look for the best deals between yourself and the different available energy suppliers. There are plenty of price comparison websites available on the internet which can assist you in finding the right deal for you and your company.

We have an article that explains how to navigate your micro or small business with the rise in energy prices. To sum it up, you can look into assessing your energy usage and identifying where you can cut costs. You may be interested in purchasing and upgrading your current equipment and assets into more energy efficient-equipment and appliances. Although the initial cost may be expensive, your company should benefit in the long term, as energy efficient-equipment that uses less electricity will reduce your electricity bills. Perhaps, you could consider switching to investing in renewable energy sources such as insulation, solar panels, etc. The positive impacts that these upgrades can have on the environment, such as reducing carbon emissions and demonstrating your company's dedication to being more sustainable, are a bonus!

To stay posted on future updates, please take a look at our article centre, Knowledge Base.