Company Formation Specialists

How do I avoid a late filing penalty?

The dates that your company must file its accounts and annual return to Companies House can be found be referring to ‘Webcheck’ on the Companies House website. Enter your name or company number and click on your company number, this will bring up the following information:

• The company name, incorporation number and registered office address
• Its status, date of incorporation & country of origin
• The company type (e.g. private / public / LLP) & nature of business (after the company has submitted its first annual return)
• Its accounting reference date (the date the accounts should be made up to)
• The date the last accounts were made up to
• The date the next accounts are due to be filed by
• The date the last annual return was made up to
• The date the next annual return is due to be filed up
• Last members’ list (to enable third parties to view the shareholders)
• Previous names (if the company has changed its name at any time) &
• UK establishment & Overseas Company info (if any)

If you choose to file your accounts or annual return on paper, we recommend that you send them to Companies House by Recorded or Special Delivery in plenty of time before the filing deadline. It is important to allow enough time for Companies House to assess the document, in case it is rejected for any reason. This will ensure you have ample time to represent the documents to Companies House, if necessary.

Please be advised that Companies House do not confirm receipt of these documents unless you provide a stamped address envelope. You can check that your forms have been received and filed on time by referring to Webcheck (see above) on Companies House website. Rejected documents will be returned to the company’s registered office address; therefore it is essential this is correct at the time of filing.

You may also file your documents electronically, via Companies House ‘Webfiling’ service, on their website. You may file your accounts and annual return via this service and are notified by email to confirm if your document has been accepted, or rejected. If the form is rejected, you will need to resubmit the information correctly. It is cheaper to file your Annual Return online. The fee is £15 to file online and £30 to file on paper.

Top Of Page
Online Company Formation