Help Centre · Statutory Accounts · 4 min read

LLP accounts: statutory accounts for a limited liability partnership

How statutory accounts for a limited liability partnership differ from company accounts in Tax Optimiser: members and designated members, no directors' report or tax line, members' interests on the balance sheet, the reconciliation of members' interests, and one credit covering the accounts and the SA800.

Tax Optimiser Updated 15 Oct 2026

A limited liability partnership (LLP) is registered at Companies House like a company and files annual accounts there, but it is taxed through its members, so there is no Corporation Tax return. In Tax Optimiser an LLP has accounting periods for its statutory accounts and an SA800 partnership return for its tax. This article covers the accounts; the SA800 series covers the return. LLP accounts are in beta: they are available to accountant firms on the beta programme, and the first live filings are being watched closely. Ask support if you would like your firm added.

What is different for an LLP

  • Members, not directors. The accounts are approved by the members and signed on the balance sheet by a designated member. Tax Optimiser pulls the members from Companies House and keeps the roles Member and Designated Member; only a designated member can be ticked to sign. An ordinary member is listed but cannot sign, just as a company secretary cannot.
  • No directors' report. Neither the LLP Regulations nor the LLP SORP require one, so the set is the financial statements alone. There is still an accountants' report, addressed to the members.
  • No tax line. An LLP pays no Corporation Tax, so the income statement ends with the profit for the financial year before members' remuneration and profit shares, then members' remuneration charged as an expense, then the profit available for discretionary division among members.
  • Members' interests instead of share capital. Below net assets attributable to members the balance sheet shows what represents them: loans and other debts due to members (members' current accounts, undrawn profits and any capital that is repayable on demand) and members' other interests (members' capital classified as equity and the reserves). The two add up to total members' interests.
  • A reconciliation of members' interests replaces the statement of changes in equity, showing the profit available for division, capital introduced or repaid and the profits allocated to members.
  • The small LLPs regime. The statements on the balance sheet read as the LLP Regulations put them: the LLP is entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small LLPs, the members acknowledge their responsibilities for accounting records and the preparation of accounts, and the accounts are prepared (and, when filleted, delivered) in accordance with the provisions applicable to LLPs subject to the small LLPs regime. The company statement that the members have not required an audit does not apply to an LLP and is left out.
  • Micro or small. A micro LLP can use FRS 105 and a small LLP FRS 102 Section 1A, exactly as a company can; see choosing your accounts framework. Filleted accounts work the same way too: full or filleted.

Setting an LLP up

  1. Add the organisation from Companies House. Search by name or by the OC, SO or NC registration number. Tax Optimiser sets the structure to Limited Liability Partnership from the register, so the Companies House tab, the accounting periods and the SA800 all appear. If an LLP was added by hand earlier with the wrong structure, change it on Organisations > Edit.
  2. Check the members. On the Period Overview the officers card is headed Members. Sync from Companies House or add members by hand; give at least one the role Designated Member and tick them to sign the balance sheet.
  3. Map the trial balance. The nominal groups you will not see for a company are there for an LLP: Members' capital, Loans and other debts due to members and Members' remuneration charged as an expense, with nominals for members' capital brought forward and introduced, members' current accounts, amounts due to members in respect of profits, members' remuneration and profits allocated to members. Share capital, dividends and the tax groups are hidden. Imports recognise the usual partnership names (members' or partners' capital, current accounts, drawings, profit shares) automatically.
  4. Review the two LLP notes and policies. Members' remuneration and profit shares and Loans and other debts due to members have standard wording to adapt, as do the policies on members' remuneration and the classification of members' interests between debt and equity.
  5. File. The Companies House filing works as it does for a company. The Corporation Tax leg of the period is marked not required from the start; the tax return is the SA800.

One credit, both filings

An LLP files its accounts at Companies House and its SA800 with HMRC for the same year. A firm spends one credit for both: whichever filing goes first takes the credit and the other is then free. A direct customer who pays the submission fee for one is not asked to pay for the other.

Not yet covered

Audited LLPs, medium and large LLPs, and group accounts are not available yet. If the LLP is audited or is above the small size limits, speak to support before starting the period.

The short version

LLP accounts: statutory accounts for a limited liability partnership — in brief

An LLP files accounts at Companies House and an SA800 with HMRC; there is no CT600.

The accounts are approved by the members and signed by a designated member; there is no directors' report.

Net assets attributable to members are represented by loans and other debts due to members and members' other interests.

One credit or submission fee covers both the accounts and the SA800 for the year. LLP accounts are in beta.