Companies House Annual Return – why it could harm your business

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 We have witnessed companies having credit lines withdrawn by major suppliers, moving them on to cash only accounts or reducing the credit limits significantly.

New Registrar's rules

New Registrar’s Rules

Companies House published the final draft of the new registrar's rules on 1 July.

This will be the final draft of the regulations published before they come into force on 1 October as part of the final Companies Act 2006 implementation.

The draft is not intended for general comment, as the Registrar carried out a consultation last year and only minor details now remain to be finalised. Companies House says that the draft's principal function is to give companies advance notice of the new regime.

Additionally, though no concrete date has been given for the publication of the draft forms, Tim Moss, Director of Corporate Strategy at Companies House, says that the registrar intends to publish them ‘very soon’ after 1 July, along with guidance for companies on the new powers.