Your company is a micro-entity if it meets any two of three tests: turnover of £1 million or less, £500,000 or less on its balance sheet, or 10 employees or less (Companies House, gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026). Meet two and you can prepare simpler accounts that meet statutory minimum requirements, send only your balance sheet to Companies House with less information in it, and take the same exemptions available to small companies. That is the whole prize: less of your business on the public register. The cost sits on the other side of the counter, where a bank, a landlord or a main contractor running a credit check reads what you filed and finds very little to work with. Filing as a micro-entity also changes nothing at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Full statutory accounts still go to your members and to HMRC with your Company Tax Return, and the filing clock at Companies House runs exactly as before.
What are micro-entity accounts?
Micro-entity accounts are the smallest set of statutory accounts the law lets a limited company put on the public record. They are not a different kind of bookkeeping and they are not a shortcut around your obligations. Your accounts still get prepared properly; what shrinks is the version that lands at Companies House.
Companies House puts it plainly: a micro-entity can prepare simpler accounts that meet statutory minimum requirements, send only its balance sheet with less information to Companies House, and benefit from the same exemptions available to small companies (gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026). So the profit and loss detail, the trading story, the shape of your year — that stays between you, your members and HMRC.
Most contractors and one-director companies sit comfortably inside the thresholds from day one. That is exactly why the decision deserves five minutes of thought rather than a tick in a box, because the default your filing software offers is not always the filing that serves you best.
Does your company qualify as a micro-entity?
The test is mechanical. You need any two of the three conditions, not all three — which is why a company with a strong turnover year can still qualify on headcount and balance sheet. The same logic runs one size up, where "small" is a separate category with much bigger numbers. Here is how the two sit side by side.
Test
Micro-entity
Small company
Turnover
£1 million or less
£15 million or less
Balance sheet total
£500,000 or less
£7.5 million or less
Employees
10 or less
50 or less
Source: Companies House, gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026. Meet any two in a column and you fall into that category.
The gap between the columns tells you something useful. "Small" is a wide band covering businesses with staff, premises and real infrastructure. Micro-entity is the floor, built for the company that is essentially one or two people and a bank account. If your figures are drifting towards the upper end of the micro column, raise it with your accountant before the year end rather than after it, because the category you qualify for is settled by the numbers you finish the year with.
Not sure which column you land in, or what the answer means for your first filing?
For a micro-entity, the filing is the balance sheet — with less information in it than a fuller set would carry (gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026). A balance sheet is a snapshot: what the company owns, what it owes and what is left over on one date. It says nothing about how you got there.
Picture a lender opening your record. They see assets, liabilities and reserves at a single moment. They cannot see your revenue, your margin, or whether last year was your best ever or your worst. In the absence of information, an underwriter fills the gap with caution — usually as a personal guarantee, a smaller facility, or a request for management accounts you now have to produce anyway. That is the trade you are making, and it is worth understanding how banks read your public accounts before you decide.
There is a second audience most directors forget: the people who check you out before signing. Agencies, end clients and landlords look companies up. A thin record is not a red flag on its own, but it gives a cautious reader nothing to be reassured by.
What the micro-entity route does not shrink is the deadline or the price of missing it. Companies House charges a private limited company £150 for accounts up to one month late, £375 from one to three months, £750 from three to six months, and £1,500 beyond six months; the penalty doubles if your accounts are late two years in a row, and a company that fails to send its accounts or confirmation statement can be fined and struck off the register (Companies House, gov.uk, figures as published on the live page, checked 14 September 2026). A shorter filing is still a late filing if it misses the date — here is what happens if accounts are late in more detail.
Filing the minimum is a judgement call, and it is easier to make with someone who has seen how it plays out.
Micro-entity, abridged or full accounts — what is the difference?
These three sit on a ladder of disclosure rather than being three separate systems. Full accounts put the most on the public record. Micro-entity accounts put the least. Abridged accounts sit in between, and they carry a condition the other two do not.
Companies House is specific: you can only send abridged accounts if all your company members agree to it, they must contain a simpler balance sheet along with any notes, and the balance sheet must have the name of a director printed on it and must be signed by a director (gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026). Unanimous agreement is easy when you are the sole shareholder and awkward when you are not. If you have an investor, a family shareholder or a former co-founder still on the register, that consent is a conversation, not a formality.
Choosing between the three is a question about your next two years, not your last one. If you expect to apply for a mortgage as a director, raise finance, tender for larger contracts or sell the company, a fuller public record works in your favour. If none of that is on the horizon and you simply want your numbers off the internet, the micro-entity route does what it says on the tin. Our partner accountants talk this through with directors before the filing rather than after it. For the wider picture, start with the three filings, three clocks and our accountancy support page.
The guide walks through the same decision in order, with the thresholds and deadlines in one place.
Do you still file a full Company Tax Return with HMRC?
Yes. This is where directors most often talk themselves into trouble. Companies House and HMRC are two different organisations with two different sets of paperwork, and easing one does not ease the other.
The rule is stated without ambiguity: you must still send statutory accounts to your members and to HMRC as part of your Company Tax Return if you are a small company or a micro-entity (gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026). The full accounts get prepared regardless. What the micro-entity option changes is the audience for the detail, not the existence of the detail.
That also means the saving is smaller than it sounds. The work behind a proper set of accounts happens either way; filing the minimum at Companies House trims the public version, not the underlying job. Decide on the basis of who you want reading your numbers, and be honest about whether a thin public record might cost you a bank facility you will want next year.
What else do directors ask about micro-entity accounts?
Does a micro-entity send a profit and loss account to Companies House?
The micro-entity filing is the balance sheet, with less information in it. The fuller statutory accounts still go to your members and to HMRC with the Company Tax Return.
My turnover was £1.2 million but I have four staff and a small balance sheet. Do I qualify?
Possibly. The test is any two of the three conditions. Failing on turnover does not disqualify you if the balance sheet and employee tests are both met.
What does an abridged balance sheet have to show?
A simpler balance sheet with any notes, carrying the name of a director printed on it and signed by a director — and all company members must agree before you can file abridged accounts at all.
Does filing as a micro-entity reduce the late filing penalty?
No. A private limited company pays £150 up to one month late, rising to £1,500 beyond six months, whichever set of accounts it files, and the penalty doubles if the accounts are late two years running (gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026).
Does filing as a micro-entity reduce our corporation tax?
No. The choice governs what is disclosed at Companies House. Your tax position is worked out from the statutory accounts that go to HMRC with your Company Tax Return, and those are unchanged.
Can Go Limited file the accounts for us?
We guide you through the decision and introduce you to a partner accountant who prepares and files the accounts. The filing responsibility stays with you as director.
Your company is a micro-entity if it meets any two of three tests: turnover of £1 million or less, £500,000 or less on its balance sheet, or 10 employees or less (Companies House, gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026). Meet two and you can prepare simpler accounts that meet statutory minimum requirements, send only your balance sheet to Companies House with less information in it, and take the same exemptions available to small companies. That is the whole prize: less of your business on the public register. The cost sits on the other side of the counter, where a bank, a landlord or a main contractor running a credit check reads what you filed and finds very little to work with. Filing as a micro-entity also changes nothing at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Full statutory accounts still go to your members and to HMRC with your Company Tax Return, and the filing clock at Companies House runs exactly as before.
What are micro-entity accounts?
Micro-entity accounts are the smallest set of statutory accounts the law lets a limited company put on the public record. They are not a different kind of bookkeeping and they are not a shortcut around your obligations. Your accounts still get prepared properly; what shrinks is the version that lands at Companies House.
Companies House puts it plainly: a micro-entity can prepare simpler accounts that meet statutory minimum requirements, send only its balance sheet with less information to Companies House, and benefit from the same exemptions available to small companies (gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026). So the profit and loss detail, the trading story, the shape of your year — that stays between you, your members and HMRC.
Most contractors and one-director companies sit comfortably inside the thresholds from day one. That is exactly why the decision deserves five minutes of thought rather than a tick in a box, because the default your filing software offers is not always the filing that serves you best.
Does your company qualify as a micro-entity?
The test is mechanical. You need any two of the three conditions, not all three — which is why a company with a strong turnover year can still qualify on headcount and balance sheet. The same logic runs one size up, where "small" is a separate category with much bigger numbers. Here is how the two sit side by side.
Test
Micro-entity
Small company
Turnover
£1 million or less
£15 million or less
Balance sheet total
£500,000 or less
£7.5 million or less
Employees
10 or less
50 or less
Source: Companies House, gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026. Meet any two in a column and you fall into that category.
The gap between the columns tells you something useful. "Small" is a wide band covering businesses with staff, premises and real infrastructure. Micro-entity is the floor, built for the company that is essentially one or two people and a bank account. If your figures are drifting towards the upper end of the micro column, raise it with your accountant before the year end rather than after it, because the category you qualify for is settled by the numbers you finish the year with.
Not sure which column you land in, or what the answer means for your first filing?
For a micro-entity, the filing is the balance sheet — with less information in it than a fuller set would carry (gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026). A balance sheet is a snapshot: what the company owns, what it owes and what is left over on one date. It says nothing about how you got there.
Picture a lender opening your record. They see assets, liabilities and reserves at a single moment. They cannot see your revenue, your margin, or whether last year was your best ever or your worst. In the absence of information, an underwriter fills the gap with caution — usually as a personal guarantee, a smaller facility, or a request for management accounts you now have to produce anyway. That is the trade you are making, and it is worth understanding how banks read your public accounts before you decide.
There is a second audience most directors forget: the people who check you out before signing. Agencies, end clients and landlords look companies up. A thin record is not a red flag on its own, but it gives a cautious reader nothing to be reassured by.
What the micro-entity route does not shrink is the deadline or the price of missing it. Companies House charges a private limited company £150 for accounts up to one month late, £375 from one to three months, £750 from three to six months, and £1,500 beyond six months; the penalty doubles if your accounts are late two years in a row, and a company that fails to send its accounts or confirmation statement can be fined and struck off the register (Companies House, gov.uk, figures as published on the live page, checked 14 September 2026). A shorter filing is still a late filing if it misses the date — here is what happens if accounts are late in more detail.
Filing the minimum is a judgement call, and it is easier to make with someone who has seen how it plays out.
Micro-entity, abridged or full accounts — what is the difference?
These three sit on a ladder of disclosure rather than being three separate systems. Full accounts put the most on the public record. Micro-entity accounts put the least. Abridged accounts sit in between, and they carry a condition the other two do not.
Companies House is specific: you can only send abridged accounts if all your company members agree to it, they must contain a simpler balance sheet along with any notes, and the balance sheet must have the name of a director printed on it and must be signed by a director (gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026). Unanimous agreement is easy when you are the sole shareholder and awkward when you are not. If you have an investor, a family shareholder or a former co-founder still on the register, that consent is a conversation, not a formality.
Choosing between the three is a question about your next two years, not your last one. If you expect to apply for a mortgage as a director, raise finance, tender for larger contracts or sell the company, a fuller public record works in your favour. If none of that is on the horizon and you simply want your numbers off the internet, the micro-entity route does what it says on the tin. Our partner accountants talk this through with directors before the filing rather than after it. For the wider picture, start with the three filings, three clocks and our accountancy support page.
The guide walks through the same decision in order, with the thresholds and deadlines in one place.
Do you still file a full Company Tax Return with HMRC?
Yes. This is where directors most often talk themselves into trouble. Companies House and HMRC are two different organisations with two different sets of paperwork, and easing one does not ease the other.
The rule is stated without ambiguity: you must still send statutory accounts to your members and to HMRC as part of your Company Tax Return if you are a small company or a micro-entity (gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026). The full accounts get prepared regardless. What the micro-entity option changes is the audience for the detail, not the existence of the detail.
That also means the saving is smaller than it sounds. The work behind a proper set of accounts happens either way; filing the minimum at Companies House trims the public version, not the underlying job. Decide on the basis of who you want reading your numbers, and be honest about whether a thin public record might cost you a bank facility you will want next year.
What else do directors ask about micro-entity accounts?
Does a micro-entity send a profit and loss account to Companies House?
The micro-entity filing is the balance sheet, with less information in it. The fuller statutory accounts still go to your members and to HMRC with the Company Tax Return.
My turnover was £1.2 million but I have four staff and a small balance sheet. Do I qualify?
Possibly. The test is any two of the three conditions. Failing on turnover does not disqualify you if the balance sheet and employee tests are both met.
What does an abridged balance sheet have to show?
A simpler balance sheet with any notes, carrying the name of a director printed on it and signed by a director — and all company members must agree before you can file abridged accounts at all.
Does filing as a micro-entity reduce the late filing penalty?
No. A private limited company pays £150 up to one month late, rising to £1,500 beyond six months, whichever set of accounts it files, and the penalty doubles if the accounts are late two years running (gov.uk, checked 14 September 2026).
Does filing as a micro-entity reduce our corporation tax?
No. The choice governs what is disclosed at Companies House. Your tax position is worked out from the statutory accounts that go to HMRC with your Company Tax Return, and those are unchanged.
Can Go Limited file the accounts for us?
We guide you through the decision and introduce you to a partner accountant who prepares and files the accounts. The filing responsibility stays with you as director.
