Not filing your accounts on time will enable Companies House to dissolve your company by compulsory strike off, along with imposing a late filing fine.
In light of the issue’s companies are having with keeping to filing deadlines during the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to ensure they have time to focus on continuing to operate, Companies House has agreed it will temporarily:
- provide an extension to accounts filing dates;
- ease strike off activity;
- treat late filing penalty appeals sympathetically – if the late delivery of accounts was attributable to the COVID-19 outbreak;
- provide a break for companies to pay late filing penalties; and
- provide additional support with payment plans for late filing penalties.
Companies who wish to utilise the three-month extension for filing of its accounts will need to apply in advance of the accounts date. If a company is late in requesting this extension, they will be issued with a late filing penalty but any appeal of this penalty will be treated sympathetically by Companies House. It is not of course guaranteed that penalties will definitely be waived.
It should be noted that if you are granted an extension, you must file your accounts by this new date, or you will receive a late filing penalty. Any extension given to your filing date will also not change your future accounts deadline date.
As Companies House are also experiencing a delay in processing and uploading paper filings, companies are urged to file forms electronically where available. This is also relevant if you are looking to submit a same day application as Companies House’s current backlog does not currently make it possible to do so.
Liberty Roberts
Corporate Commercial Solicitor
