Companies House has announced fee increases taking effect on 1 May 2024, affecting all new and existing UK companies.
The basic cost to form a company electronically rises from £12 to £50 and confirmation statements (CS01) increase from £13 to £34. Company name changes (£8 to £20) and several other fees will also rise significantly. For many less common transactions, especially those requiring submission of a paper form, the new cost is considerable – with an administrative restoration now charged at £468, for example.
A full list of new fees is available to download and reproduced below.
Although we await confirmation from Companies House, we expect the new fees to be charged based on when a submission is made. Assuming this is true, a confirmation statement submitted on 5 May 2024 would be charged the new, higher fee, even if it made up to a date before 1 May 2024.
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Paying fees
If your accountancy firm does not currently have a Companies House presenter code with a credit facility enabling you to pay fees in arrears, now could be a sensible time to obtain one. The ability to be charged in arrears can aid cashflow for accountancy businesses, an advantage which will be even more valuable once fees are at a higher level.
If you pay Companies House fees via your Inform Direct account rather than a presenter code, the process will continue to operate in the same way. When a chargeable form is filed the system will determine whether a fee is payable, taking into account that for the confirmation statement only one fee is payable per confirmation period. It will also identify whether any fee payable is at the old rate or the new higher rate. The increased amount you pay to Inform Direct when making a submission will only be to cover the uplift in the Companies House filing fee.
If you already pay filing fees via a presenter code with a credit facility, we suggest making contact with Companies House to ensure your credit limit is increased. We would hope that Companies House will automatically increase presenters’ credit facility to accommodate the higher fees, but accountants will want to be sure.
Other planning points for accountants
Accountants may wish to consider how best to communicate the increase in Companies House fees to their clients. If, in the past, you have bundled the filing fee into a combined service charge, it may now be sensible to itemise and show separately the higher cost of submissions. Given the early signs that Companies House intends actively to use its new powers to query and challenge information, potentially meaning more work for accountants, some may use the opportunity to review their own charges at the same time.
In particular, accountants will need to consider communicating with clients who have transactions due around 1 May 2024, firstly to ensure the client pays you the correct fee for filing.
Moreover, by bringing a new company formation forward, for example, it will be possible to make a saving on the filing fee for incorporation. Some accountants may even consider filing confirmation statements early, if they are due in later months. However, the efficacy of this approach would depend on each company’s confirmation statement payment period. It would also change the date at which the next confirmation statement would need to be filed, potentially creating an unwelcome spike in workload for future years.
Our thoughts
The increase in fees will be unwelcome to many, although Companies House’s fees have before now remained unchanged since 2016. They also remain low compared to many eurozone jurisdictions. Comparatively low fees for many years have been good news for entrepreneurs – with over 600,000 new UK companies formed in 2023 alone – but some argue that a low cost makes it too easy to form a UK business, and helps to facilitate fraudulent use of UK companies.
Companies House is also keen to reiterate that the fee changes purely reflect its increased costs, particularly linked to implementation of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act. This law gives Companies House the scope of utilise a range of new powers, and will require internal system, process and staff development. Some of the increase in fees may anticipate future developments, such as identity verification for company directors and PSCs, although Companies House has not ruled out further fee increases in future years on the same cost-recovery basis.
That justification may come as limited comfort to many companies. That includes all those dormant companies which receive no income but must still file a confirmation statement each year. We also hope Companies House will be keen to demonstrate that the use of its new powers is efficiently targeted at fulfilling its important statutory objectives. It will be especially important that the powers to query and challenge information supplied to the Registrar are used strategically, as they will increase demands on companies and their professional advisers who are funding the change.
Company incorporation and registration fees
Transaction | Channel | New fee |
---|---|---|
Incorporation | Digital | £50 |
Incorporation (same day) | Software | £78 |
Incorporation | Software | £50 |
Incorporation | Paper | £71 |
Registration under s1040 (Part 33 Chapter 1) CA06 | Paper | £71 |
Re-registration of a company under Part 7 CA06 | Paper | £71 |
Re-registration of a company under section 651 CA06 | Paper | £71 |
Re-registration of a company under section 665 CA06 | Paper | £71 |
Confirmation statement | Digital | £34 |
Confirmation statement | Software | £34 |
Confirmation statement | Paper | £62 |
Change of name | Paper | £30 |
Change of name (same day) | Digital | £83 |
Change of name | Digital | £20 |
Registration of a charge | Paper | £24 |
Registration of a charge | Digital | £15 |
Voluntary strike off | Paper | £44 |
Voluntary strike off | Digital | £33 |
Reduction of share capital of a company under s644 CA06 (same day) | Digital (upload service) | £136 |
Reduction of share capital of a company under s644 CA06 | Paper | £33 |
Reduction of share capital of a company under s644 CA06 | Digital (upload service) | £33 |
Reduction of share capital of a company under s649 CA06 (same day) | Digital (upload service) | £136 |
Reduction of share capital of a company under s649 CA06 | Paper | £33 |
Reduction of share capital of a company under s649 CA06 | Digital (upload service) | £33 |
Administrative restoration | Paper | £468 |
Application to make an address unavailable for public inspection | Paper | £30 |
Limited liability partnerships
Transaction | Channel | New fee |
---|---|---|
Registration of LLP (same day) | Digital | £78 |
Registration of LLP | Digital | £50 |
Registration of LLP | Paper | £71 |
LLP confirmation statement | Paper | £62 |
LLP confirmation statement | Digital | £34 |
LLP change of name | Paper | £30 |
LLP change of name (same day) | Digital | £83 |
LLP change of name | Digital | £20 |
Registration of a charge by an LLP | Paper | £24 |
Registration of a charge by an LLP | Digital | £15 |
LLP voluntary strike off | Paper | £44 |
LLP voluntary strike off | Digital | £33 |
Administrative restoration of an LLP | Paper | £468 |
Application to make an address unavailable for public inspection | Paper | £30 |
Overseas companies
Transaction | Channel | New fee |
---|---|---|
Registration of a UK establishment of an overseas company | Paper | £71 |
Change of corporate name or alternative name of an overseas company | Paper | £30 |
Registration of annual accounts | Paper | £62 |
Limited partnerships
Transaction | Channel | New fee |
---|---|---|
Registration of a limited partnership | Paper | £71 |
“Annual fee” for Scottish limited partnership (registration of all relevant documents delivered during a relevant period payable on the registration of a confirmation statement) | Paper | £62 |
“Annual fee” for Scottish limited partnership | Digital (upload service) | £62 |
Scottish qualifying partnerships
Transaction | Channel | New fee |
---|---|---|
Registration of Scottish qualifying partnership | Paper | £71 |
“Annual fee” (registration of all relevant documents delivered during a relevant period payable on the registration of a confirmation statement) | Paper | £62 |
“Annual fee” | Digital (upload service) | £62 |
UK Economic Interest Groupings and UK Societas
Transaction | Channel | New fee |
---|---|---|
Registration of an EEIG establishment | Paper | £71 |
Registration of change of name of a UKEIG | Paper | £30 |
Registration of a charge for a UKEIG | Paper | £24 |
Registration of public company by conversion of a UK Societas | Paper | £71 |
Overseas entities
All filings for the Register of Overseas Entities must be filed digitally. The only exception is for those who have protected status or a pending protection application. This group will need to pay a separate paper fee.
Transaction | Channel | New fee |
---|---|---|
Registration of an overseas entity | Digital | £234 |
Update fee | Digital | £234 |
Application for removal | Digital | £706 |
Community interest companies
Transaction | Channel | New fee |
---|---|---|
Incorporation | Digital | £65 |
Incorporation | Paper | £86 |
Limited company to a community interest company (conversion) | Paper | £45 |
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