What are dormant accounts?

Every company in the UK needs to prepare and file financial statements (or ‘accounts’ for brevity). Accounts come in all lengths and sizes, depending on the size of the business and the complexity of its activity. The complexity of accounts ranges from very high for those large businesses and groups, right down to the simplest and most trimmed version which are referred to as ‘dormant accounts’.

Dormant accounts are allowed to be prepared for companies that have been – take a guess – dormant. For more information on what qualifies as dormant, read our FAQs.

Dormant company accounts format

Dormant accounts are often just 2 pages (including the cover page), displaying a balance sheet and some statutory declarations below it. There may be more pages than this if there are some disclosure notes included, but the point is this – they are most minimal! And why shouldn’t they be? They are meant to be reflective of the fact that a company has had no activity and transactions for its financial year, so dormant accounts provide a filing option to be as least onerous as possible.

In fact, they are so simple that almost anyone can file them. We’ve made it simple and automated so that you don’t need an accountant to prepare and file them! You could use our online service for filing dormant company accounts in a couple of minutes – it really is as DIY as that.

If you are curious to know what the figures should be, the balance sheet can be prepared depending on either of 2 scenarios:

1. If your company has not traded and not had any significant transactions (other than the allowed 3) ever since incorporation, then your balance sheet would show a line for share capital (usually at the nominal £1 per share) and another line for ‘shares unpaid’ or ‘cash in hand’.

2. If your company has traded in prior years, then you simply copy the figures from your prior year’s balance sheet. This is because there has been no movement – no transactions for the current financial year you are preparing.

Can a dormant company have a bank account?

Yes it can! As long as there were no bank transactions (not even tiny interest or bank charges) throughout the financial year you would like to file dormant accounts for. You should double check with the bank to ensure that no unexpected transactions take place that would disqualify you for filing dormant accounts.

Is there a dormant company accounts template?

If you want to see an example of what dormant accounts look like or would like a dormant company accounts template, click here to download a sample.

As simple as they are, even dormant companies have to file accounts by law. So why not make it simple and choose to file dormant accounts with Companies House? In 2 minutes and 3 easy steps you can file dormant accounts online and yourself through our website – click here to whizz through it.