Correcting company accounts and amending a Company Tax Return

acrenvo.com/guides/amending-company-accounts-and-tax-returns, last reviewed 1 November 2026

Hannah is fictional. She is a bookkeeper who looks after the records of a few small limited companies. A month after one client’s accounts and Company Tax Return went in, she found an invoice that had been counted in the wrong year. Both filings now need putting right, and the client’s director wants to know how. This guide follows the two corrections from what Companies House and HMRC have published, and explains what changes for corrected accounts in April 2028.

Correcting accounts at Companies House

Companies House accepts a corrected set of accounts, but only by the routes it names. You can send amended accounts to Companies House:

• on paper
• through filing software, if you used it to file your annual accounts and your software allows you to submit corrected accounts

The second route depends on the software, so it is worth asking the provider before relying on it. Whichever route Hannah uses, the corrected accounts must cover the same year as the first set. Amended or corrected accounts must be for the same period as the original accounts.

Correcting the accounts does not wipe the first version from the public record, which is useful to know before the director asks. Your original accounts will remain on file at Companies House.

Sending amended accounts on paper

Paper accounts have to explain themselves, because Companies House needs to know they are not a second copy of the same filing. You must clearly say in your new accounts that they:

• replace the original accounts
• are now the statutory accounts
• are prepared as they were at the date of the original accounts

Write “amended” on the front so that Companies House know your accounts are not duplicates. If only one part of the accounts is wrong, there is a shorter route. If you only want to amend one part of your accounts, you need to send a note saying what’s been changed. The note must be signed by a director and filed with a copy of the original accounts.

Amending a Company Tax Return

The Company Tax Return has its own window for changes, and it is tied to the filing deadline rather than to the day the return went in. You must usually make any changes (‘amendments’) within 12 months of the filing deadline. The guide to company accounts and Company Tax Return deadlines sets out that filing deadline. GOV.UK gives two ways to make the change. You can:

• use commercial software
• write to or send a paper return to the Corporation Tax office

HMRC’s guidance for companies that used its closed online service lists a third way. GOV.UK says that if you want to make changes to a previous submitted return or re-file a rejected return, you can use commercial software, write or send a paper return to the Corporation Tax office or use an agent.

Making changes more than 12 months after the filing deadline

Once the window has passed, what to do depends on whether the company paid too much tax or too little. If you have overpaid Corporation Tax you may still be able to claim it back. If you have underpaid Corporation Tax you should tell HMRC using the online disclosure service as soon as possible.

Corrected accounts from April 2028

Today a company can correct its accounts on paper or through software, and HMRC’s guidance on its closed service puts it the same way. If you want to change or correct your accounts with Companies House, you need to use software or send paper accounts by post. From 1 April 2028, Companies House will take accounts only through software, and its announcement names revised accounts.

So from that date the paper route closes for revised accounts as well as for annual ones. Since Companies House says software can file corrected accounts only where it allows it, it is worth checking that point when choosing a product. Our company filing hub links to GOV.UK’s two lists of software, and our monthly counts of the software used to file company accounts show which products companies file with today.

Questions about correcting company accounts and returns