Companies Act 2006 – New Filing Deadlines and Late Filing Penalties

From 1^st February 2009, the penalties for private and public limited companies for late filing of accounts at Companies House have been significantly increased. This follows a reduction in the permitted filing periods for all accounting periods that began on or after 6^th April 2008.

The Companies Act 2006 contains a provision that has reduced the filing deadlines for the accounts of private and public limited companies for all accounting periods that began on or after 6^th April 2008. For private limited companies the filing period was reduced from ten months to nine months after the end of the relevant accounting period. For public limited companies the filing period was reduced from seven months to six months after the end of the relevant accounting period.

In addition to the reduction of the permitted filing periods, from 1^st February 2009 there has been a significant increase in the financial penalties that are payable by a company that fails to lodge it’s accounts at Companies House on time.

The new late filing penalties apply to all accounts that have been delivered late, regardless of when they became overdue, and are as follows:

Where a company also failed to comply with the filing requirements in relation to the previous financial year (beginning on or after 6th April 2008), the penalty will be double that shown in the table.

Companies should note that there is now a much faster rate of increase in the penalties that will be charged for accounts that are filed more than one month late. For example, under the old regime, accounts of a private company filed two months late would attract a penalty of £100. Now that penalty will be £375 (or £700 if the accounts were also filed late the previous financial year).

Companies House will send filing reminders to your registered office address as the filing deadline approaches. If it looks as if you will not be able to file your accounts within the permitted period you should contact Companies House to discuss the matter with it. If you can show that your company has a good reason for filing the accounts late, and you discuss the matter with Companies House before the deadline to file the accounts has passed, it may be able to use its discretion to grant an extension. However, there is no such discretion after the deadline has passed.