A company’s failure to file accounts at Companies House on time is a criminal offence.
However, if the consequence is largely confined to a fine, that does not seem necessarily to alleviate the risk of taxpayer losses. The compulsory strike off risk does not ensure the accounts are filed either.
Yet HMRC needs to see these accounts and the basis of the regime is self assessment.
Without any first year (or first period) accounting information, HMRC appears to have nothing on which to base an Assessment.
With nothing sitting on HMRC’s systems, is there anything to trigger a review or compliance check without some other additional compliance failure?
So companies that do not file a first set of accounts and opt for a voluntarily strike off (using a DS01 form strike off a company) could amount to a loophole leaking lakes of tax.
Do we have any real idea of the scale of these tax losses?
Tax losses could include:
- corporation tax on profits going unreported
- section 455 tax on funds hoovered up by directors
- section 415 income tax losses on director loans unrecorded and released by the company dissolution procedure
What is HMRC doing to fetter such potential for that which could be widespread abuse?
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Author: Elliot Green
Last Updated: August 17, 2026
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Disclaimer: HMRC Tax Losses From Failure To File Accounts
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