The steps to make your UK company dormant, tell HMRC, and stay compliant with Companies House.
Making a company dormant means stopping all significant trading so the company still exists but is not active. It is a common way to protect a company name or pause a business without closing it. This guide covers how to make a company dormant and what you still have to file.
What dormant means
A company is dormant if it has no significant accounting transactions in a financial year. Paying the confirmation statement fee and certain filing costs do not count. Almost anything else, including sales, wages or supplier payments, will stop the company being dormant.
Steps to make a company dormant
- Stop trading and settle any outstanding invoices and bills
- Collect any money owed to the company and close or pause the business bank account
- Tell HMRC the company is dormant for Corporation Tax
- Cancel VAT and PAYE registrations if you no longer need them
What you still have to file
A dormant company must still file a confirmation statement every year and dormant company accounts with Companies House. Missing these still leads to penalties and, eventually, the company being struck off, so keep filing even while dormant.
Dormant companies and the 2028 change
From April 2028 dormant accounts, like all accounts, must be filed using software instead of the free web form. We are building a free tool so dormant, micro and small companies can file in minutes when the change lands.