Companies House filing deadlines – A Return to Normality

Back in June 2020, the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA 2020) introduced terms granting automatic extensions for Companies House filing deadlines. The purpose of this was to ease the administrative burden on companies during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing directors to focus their attentions on the continued operation of their companies instead.

The extensions applied to annual accounts, confirmation statements, event-driven filings, and registration of mortgage & charge filings, where the deadline for such filings fell during the period of 27 June 2020 and 5 April 2021.

There has been no extension to this relaxation of the rules, and therefore all original timescales for Companies House filings are now re-instated (except that charges created on or before 4 April 2021 still benefit from a 31 day filing period rather than the usual 21 day period).

If additional time is needed to file accounts, companies can still apply for a 3 month extension (up to a maximum filing period of 12 months), and should cite COVID-19 related issues in their application.

As there can be strict penalties for the late filing of certain documents (specifically annual accounts), it's important to ensure you comply with the correct dates.

How can Doyle Clayton help?

If you have any questions on any of the above, or if you need information or help on filing any information with Companies House, please contact our Head of Corporate, Liz Barton.