How and when do I file my charity's accounts?

England and Wales: This page sets out the position in full. Scotland: the same duty, but the deadline is a month shorter and a fourth document must be filed separately — see below. Northern Ireland: the same period as England and Wales, but set by a different statute, with its own first-year rule — see below.

What if the charity is under the filing trigger?

In England and Wales, a charity under the filing trigger has not been exempted. Its trustees must file charity accounts when the Charity Commission asks for them. Most guidance leaves the impression that such a charity has nothing to do. The duty has changed shape, not gone.

This page assumes the report and accounts are approved: see approve the trustees’ annual report and approve and sign the accounts. You complete the annual return alongside. The trigger is one of the accounting thresholds.

Above the trigger: must transmit within 10 months of the financial year end. At or below it: must transmit ONLY IF THE COMMISSION REQUESTS, on a sliding deadline.

In practice, that sliding deadline runs two ways. If the Commission’s request arrives before the end of month seven, the deadline is within 10 months from the end of the financial year. If it arrives later, the deadline resets to 3 months from the date of the request. For a request made late enough, that can fall later than the deadline a larger charity above the trigger gets automatically.

The trigger never applies to one structure at all: the trigger does not apply — a CIO transmits whatever its income. Tollgate Youth CIO has to transmit its annual report and accounts on the normal timetable regardless of what it takes in that year. The gross income test that governs every other structure does not reach a CIO.

When are charity accounts due in each nation?

Each nation sets its own deadline in its own statute. All three count from the financial year end. Charities Act 2011 s.163(1)(a) is the England and Wales source, verbatim:

“within 10 months from the end of that year”

That is 10 months — counted from the end of the charity’s financial year, not from the date the trustees approved the accounts. A late approval does not move the deadline.

Scotland runs on a separate instrument: the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (SSI 2006/218). Its reg 5(1) sets the accounts deadline at 9 months — one month tighter than England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A charity registered both north and south of the border effectively works to the earlier date. The rest of the Scottish filing is covered where you complete the OSCR annual return.

Northern Ireland has its own statute. The Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 s.68(3) sets 10 months: the same length as England and Wales, but a different Act. Do not cite s.163 for a Northern Irish charity. The return that goes with the accounts is covered where you complete the CCNI annual monitoring return.

Scotland and Northern Ireland: what’s different, not just the date

Since 5 March 2026, Scotland requires a fourth document alongside the annual return, the statement of account and the trustees’ annual report. The independent examiner’s or auditor’s report now has to be sent to OSCR as a separate item. It counts in its own right, not merely as an attachment to the accounts.

The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland states explicitly what the statute leaves implicit: “This duty begins with their first full financial year after registration,” so a short first period immediately following registration is not itself caught by the 10 months clock.

The new band this year: filing accounts nobody has to examine

For financial years ending on or after 30 September 2026, some charities will have to file accounts that no statute requires anyone to examine or audit. The filing trigger in the first section does not move for those years. The scrutiny floor does.

That mismatch creates a new band of charities, explained in do we need an examination if we are under the threshold. This is not an error in the law. It is how the two thresholds now sit relative to each other. Working out whether your charity is in that band is a separate question, answered where you determine your external scrutiny requirement.

Next, a charitable company must also file with Companies House. Then see who can see your accounts.

Common mistake: not asking for more time

Almost no guidance mentions that this power exists. Both the England and Wales route and the Northern Ireland route allow it, verbatim:

England and Wales, s.163(1)(b): “such longer period as the Commission may for any special reason allow in the case of that report.”
Northern Ireland, s.68(3)(b): “…or within such longer period as the Commission may for any special reason allow.”

A charity heading for a late filing has something to ask for, before the deadline passes — not just an apology to offer afterwards. If the date has already gone, see fix a late or incorrect filing.

Worked example

Saltmarsh Trust’s financial year ends on 31 March. Its income sits well above the £25,000 trigger. The duty to transmit is therefore automatic: nobody at the Commission has to ask for it.

10 months from a 31 March year end puts the deadline at 31 January the following year. If Saltmarsh’s trustees are not going to make that date, the time to ask under s.163(1)(b) is before 31 January, not after.