Companies House are clamping down hard on the late filing of annual returns . This is an annual form which updates Companies House about directors and shareholders and comes with an on-line filing fee of £14.
If the form is filed three months late Companies House will issue a first gazette notice ‘GAZ1’ which is an application to strike the company off the register. When the annual return is actually submitted a second notice is filed to remove the striking off application ‘DISS40’.
The problem arises when credit searches are t carried out on the company as they focus on the GAZ1 notice and in most cases will issue a negative credit score, suggesting credit should not be offered to this company.
This can cause problems with banking , customer and supplier relationships. We have witnessed companies having credit lines withdrawn by major suppliers, moving them on to cash only accounts or reducing the credit limits significantly.
