Guidance

Using software to file your company's information

How to send information to Companies House through our eXtensible Markup Language (XML) schemas, by purchasing software or developing your own.

Published 4 November 2019
From:
Companies House

Software filing packages let you send us information through our eXtensible Markup Language (XML) gateway.

If you file a lot of documents, you might find this fits into your workflow more easily. The more documents you file, the more beneficial this option is likely to be.

It’s also cheaper to file documents electronically using software. For example, it costs £13 to incorporate a company using software filing, but costs £40 to file a paper form. Same day incorporations are £30 using software filing, and £100 by paper.

The following forms can be filed using our software filing service, plus additional types of company accounts and incorporations.

How to file online using software

You’ll need to open an online filing presenter account and either purchase suitable software or develop your own.

To develop your own software, you’ll need expertise in XML. You can:

Filing annual accounts in iXBRL format

We can receive and process company accounts produced in Inline eXtensible Reporting Language (iXBRL) format. More software package providers are making this available.

Find a software provider to file your company’s accounts.

Some of the benefits include:

  • no more covering letters
  • no postage costs
  • faster, more secure delivery with immediate acknowledgement of receipt
  • automatic confirmation of acceptance or rejection
  • reduced risk of late filing penalties

You can only use our iXBRL service to file accounts that fall under the 2006 Companies Act.

 Previewing your submission

If you’re developing iXBRL to file accounts online, you can test your submission using our validator.

You should use the ‘show image’ tool to check your iXBRL submission. This will preview exactly how your image will look on our system.

Your submission might not display as you expect, even if it’s passed the validation process. This is because of the different methods used to render the iXBRL.

 Accounts taxonomies

You can use our iXBRL filing service for accounts tagged using the following taxonomies.

2019 taxonomy entry points:

  • FRS 101 (from 1 January 2019)
  • FRS 102 (from 1 January 2019)
  • IFRS (from 1 January 2019)
  • Charities (from 1 January 2019 for charity accounts only)

2018 taxonomy entry points:

Older taxonomy entry points:

  • FRS 101 (from 1 September 2014)
  • FRS 102 (from 1 September 2014)
  • IFRS (from 1 September 2014)
  • UK GAAP (for company accounts only from 1 September 2009 to 31 December 2015)
  • Charities FRS 102 SORP (from 1 January 2016 for charity accounts only)

Micro-entities (FRS 105) should use the FRS 102 entry point.

You can view all parts of the taxonomy at once using the FRC taxonomy overview entry point. This does not include the charities taxonomy.

You cannot use HMRC’s detailed profit and loss taxonomies for tagging data in your accounts for Companies House. We’ll reject your iXBRL files if they contain reference to the schema provided by HMRC.

Published 4 November 2019
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