Companies House April 2028 Changes for Contractors

"I saw something about Companies House publishing my profits from 2028. Am I opening my full company financials for the whole world to see?" That was the message we had recently received from a contractor who runs a good little IT contracting business. He'd half-read a headline, half-heard a colleague's version of it, and arrived at a not very good interpretation. His turnover, his profit, his salary, all of it splashed across a public website for clients and competitors to take a look at.

It's a fair worry about these kinds of things - for a limited company contractor it feels like a privacy breach. It's also not quite what's happening.

So let's clear it up. There are real changes coming to how limited companies file their accounts, they're confirmed for 1 April 2028, and they do affect the smallest companies, which is most contractors. But the nuclear version doing the rounds is wider of the mark than the truth. Here's the plain English, 11am, post-coffee, pre-pub version, and what it actually means for you.

First things first: didn't this get cancelled?

Yeah yeah nah.

The government first floated these reforms for April 2027. After a fair bit of noise from small business owners, accountants and investors, the whole thing was paused in the summer of 2025 while ministers had a rethink. That pause is probably the "it got scrapped" version you might have heard.

It didn't get scrapped. It came back in June 2026 with a new start date of 1 April 2028 and one important concession bolted on (more on that below). So you've got a long runway, but the direction of travel is now settled. This is happening.

Are you even affected? The two-minute answer

If you are short on time, this is the bit that matters most, and it splits neatly into two camps.

If you already have an accountant doing your annual accounts and corporation tax, like our own clients, then the honest answer is: mostly, you can relax. The new rules are largely about how accounts reach Companies House, and that's our job, not yours. We'll be filing through compatible software in the right format well before the deadline, the same way we already handle your limited company filings now. The one thing we'll want a quick word with you about is the new profit and loss decision, which we'll come to.

If you file your own accounts, this is the one to pay attention to. The free and familiar ways of doing it are going away, and you'll need a new plan before April 2028. Not in a panic, but not left to the last week either.

That's the whole thing in a nutshell. Now the detail (but let's keep it light and readable).

What's actually changing for the smallest companies

Most contractor companies are what Companies House calls a micro-entity. In accounting shorthand that's the FRS 105 crowd (it's the accounting standard the accounts are prepared using), but the label matters less than the test. You're a micro-entity if you meet two of these three: turnover no more than £1 million, balance sheet total no more than £500,000, and no more than 10 employees. A one, two or three-person contractor company sails comfortably inside that.

Up to now, being a micro-entity has meant a very light touch at Companies House. You file a stripped-back balance sheet, you don't file a profit and loss account, and the public sees almost nothing about what you actually earn.

Three things are changing from April 2028:

1. You'll have to file using commercial software, in a digital format called iXBRL. The free Companies House web form for accounts is closing.
2. You'll have to include a profit and loss account in what you file, although you'll be able to keep it off the public register.
3. A couple of old headaches disappear, which is the good news hiding in here.

Let's take them in turn.

Free DIY filing is on the way out

This is the big one for anyone who files their own accounts.

The free joint service that let you send your accounts to Companies House and your corporation tax return to HMRC in one go, known as CATO, has already closed. That happened in early 2026, so if you used to file that way, you've probably already felt the change. From April 2028, the free Companies House web service for accounts closes too.

In plain English: from that point, company accounts have to be filed through commercial accounting software that produces the right digital format. There's no free government form to fall back on for accounts any more.

Now, the rest of Companies House isn't disappearing. You'll still update director details and file your annual confirmation statement through the normal Companies House website. It's specifically the accounts that move to software-only.

For a lot of contractors who've been quietly self-filing a simple set of micro-entity accounts each year, this is the moment the DIY route runs out of road. You've essentially got two choices: get hold of software that can prepare and file your accounts in the required format, or hand the job to an accountant (like, purely as an example, No Worries Accounting. If you've been on the fence about it, this is the perfect prompt. We've written before about what's actually involved in preparing annual accounts if you want a sense of the work.

You'll file a P&L, but you can keep it private

Here's the change that sparked the "they're publishing my profits" concern. It's worth understanding properly, because the reality is a lot less alarming than the headline.

At the moment, a micro-entity doesn't file a profit and loss account to Companies House at all. From April 2028, you will have to. The reason this rattled people is obvious once you picture it. For a small contractor company, the profit and loss account is basically a map of your year: what you billed, what you spent, what was left, and what you paid yourself. For a lot of owners, that's about as private as financial information gets.

So here's the concession that came out of the pause. Yes, you'll have to file a profit and loss account. But small and micro companies will be able to:

1. Opt out of having that profit and loss account published on the public register.
2. Tick the right box, and the figures don't appear on the public Companies House record for clients, suppliers or competitors to browse.

There's a small catch worth knowing about. Opting out keeps the P&L off the public register. It does not hide it from the authorities. Companies House, HMRC and law enforcement will still see the full picture. So this is privacy from the general public, not secrecy from Companies House. For most contractors, that distinction is exactly the one they care about, and the opt-out does the job.

A quick worked example to make it concrete. Say you bill £90,000 in a year, your costs come to £15,000, you take a £12,570 salary and the rest comes out as dividends. Without the opt-out, a version of that story would sit on the public register. With the opt-out, the public still sees your basic balance sheet, but your annual income and a breakdown of your expenses stay between you, Companies House and HMRC. Same filing obligation, very different shop window.

One honest note: the exact mechanics of how you make the opt-out election are still being finalised in the detailed rules. The principle is confirmed, the precise process isn't published yet. If you're our client, this is the bit we'll handle so it's a tick-box for you and a non-event for your privacy.

It's not all extra work

It would be easy to read all this as nothing but more admin. It isn't, quite.

Alongside the new bits, the reforms also tidy up a couple of things that have confused small companies for years. The old menu of "abridged" and "filleted" accounts, which sent plenty of perfectly sensible people down a rabbit hole of jargon, is being cleared away in favour of one consistent approach. And the wider reform programme is set to scrap the requirement for small companies to produce a directors' report at all, so that's one less bit of compliance to worry about.

For the very smallest companies, then, the net picture is less dramatic than the headlines suggest. You'll file through software, you'll include a profit and loss account that you can keep off the public register, and a couple of old irritations fall away. Manageable, with a bit of preparation.

There are a few smaller tweaks in the package too, like firmer wording when you claim audit exemption (almost every contractor company is audit-exempt, so this is usually a formality) and a new limit on shortening your company's year-end more than once every five years without a good reason. Neither tends to trouble a typical contractor, so we'll leave them there rather than drag you through the fine print.

What to do before April 2028

You've got time, which is the nice part. Here's how to use it, depending on which camp you're in.

If you already have an accountant:

1. Mostly, carry on. The filing format is our problem to solve, and we'll have it sorted long before the deadline.

2. Expect a short conversation, closer to the time, about whether to opt your profit and loss account out of public view. For most contractors the answer is yes, but it's your call and we'll make it a simple one.

3. There's nothing you need to buy or install.

If you file your own accounts:

1. Sort your corporation tax filing route now if you haven't already, since the old free joint service has gone.

2. Decide how you'll file from 2028: get software that can produce and file accounts in the required format, or hand the accounts to an accountant.

3. Don't leave it to March 2028. Software takes a little getting used to, and a calm switch beats a deadline scramble.4. Make a note to decide on the profit and loss opt-out when the detail is published.

If that second list has you thinking it might finally be time to hand this off, switching to an accountant is more straightforward than most people expect, and it takes the whole 2028 question off your plate.

The bottom line

The job hasn't changed. You still bill your clients, you still have costs, and you still pay tax on the difference. What's changing is the plumbing, how your accounts get to Companies House, plus a bit more detail going on file, most of which you can keep off the public record.

So the message to that worried contractor, and to you: no, your profits aren't about to be published for the world to see, as long as you use the opt-out. Yes, the free DIY filing route is closing, so you'll need software or an accountant. And no, there's no need to do anything this week. There's just a sensible decision to make over the next year or so.

If you'd like to know how the 2028 changes affect your particular setup, get in touch with No Worries Accounting. We've been guiding limited company contractors through the UK tax system for over twenty years, we already handle our clients' accounts and corporation tax filing from end to end, and we'll take care of the new digital filing and the profit and loss opt-out so you don't have to think about it.