Companies House has said that it will no longer provide paper reminders to file confirmation statements and accounts. Companies can instead register to receive email reminders through the WebFiling service.
Companies House is also asking companies to submit accounts early and preferably online. Paper accounts are six times more likely to be rejected compared to accounts filed electronically and, as a result of the pandemic, it is taking longer than usual to process paper filed accounts.
The Companies etc. (Filing Requirements) (Temporary Modifications) Regulations 2020, which were made under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020, temporarily extend various filing deadlines under the Companies Act. For accounts, the deadline was extended by three months, to 12 months for a private company and nine months for a public company (see our corporate update 2020/14). The longer filing periods apply to filing deadlines that fall between 27 June 2020 and 5 April 2021 (inclusive). Companies House Guidance notes that the revised filing dates can be checked via the Companies House Service.
If accounts are rejected close to the filing deadlines, there may not be enough time for corrected accounts to be processed and an automatic late filing penalty may be incurred (although Companies House has said that appeals will be treated sympathetically if accounts are delivered late as a direct result of the pandemic).
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