Filing changes at Companies House

As from the end of June this year, companies and LLP’s should be aware of changes to the filing regime at Companies House. The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 came into force on June 30th.

From this date companies and LLP’s in the UK should file a Confirmation Statement instead of an Annual Return. This aims to simplify the previous Annual Return process.

• There will be no need to repeat previously filed information; companies will simply confirm that they have made every filing required by Companies House since their previous statement or Annual Return.
• The Confirmation Statement may be filed at any point but at least one must be submitted in any twelve month period. This period will restart each time a Statement is lodged.
• LLP’s and companies may choose to submit more than one statement in a year and will only be billed a single annual fee and not charged for each submission. Take note that the compliance period has been halved from 28 days to 14 days of the due date of the statement. Failure to comply may result in a fine. The introduction of the new system will allow companies to notify Companies House of any shareholder changes immediately, without having to wait for the date of their next Statement.

Matthew Fretten, Head of our Commercial Team, says “Since the beginning of April this year Companies and LLP’s subject to the Act have been required to file a register of people with significant control (PSC). If you are not maintaining a register of PSC’s don’t delay as this is a statutory obligation. This may be filed with your Confirmation Statement.”

Our Commercial Team, based in Christchurch, also cover Bournemouth, Poole and the New Forest. If you have any questions, you only have to ask us at Frettens. Please call 01202 499255 and Matthew, or his team, will be happy to chat about your situation.