#502 -fatal: Authentication Failure (Companies House Forms)

If you get the error message #502 - fatal: Authorisation Failure when filing Companies House Forms in Company Secretarial, this means that one of the following entries are missing or incorrect. Please check all the details carefully and re-enter them. Ensure you delete any spaces appearing at the end of an entry.

• Ensure you have created a credit account with Companies House (If you do not have a credit account created you will not be able to file online, please click here to apply)
• Company Type and number - make sure the correct type is selected:
  • EW – England and Wales company
  • SC – Scottish company
  • NI – Northern Ireland company
  • R – Northern Ireland company registered before the partition of Ireland in 1922
  • OC – other England and Wales company (only used for LLP cases in liquidation)
  • SO – other Scotland company (only used for LLP cases in liquidation)
  • NC – other Northern Ireland company (only used for LLP cases in liquidation).
• Company Authentication Code: – a six-character alphanumeric code which is specific to the company you're filing. Please note: This is case sensitive and is usually expected to be capital letters. 
• Presenter ID and Presenter Authentication Code: – these are both provided by Companies House and are not the same details as you use to log in to their website. A presenter ID is 11 characters long and is a mixture of numbers and letters. It can either start and end with 000, or start with the letter E followed by 10 digits. The Presenter Authentication code is a mixture of numbers and letters and is 11 characters long. This is usually entered in capitals. If you don't have these yet, fill in the application form and email it to Companies House. Please note: The Presenter Code is case sensitive and is usually expected to be capital letters. 

If you only have a web-filing account with Companies House, you will not be able to use these credentials in third party software for submissions. You will be able to identify whether you have this account type as you will have an email address and password instead of a Presenter ID and Authentication.