Why are There Penalties in Place for Late Filing?
Companies House late filing penalties are designed to encourage companies to file their accounts and reports on time. All companies, private and public, large or small, trading or non-trading, must send their accounts to Companies House.
What are the penalties in place?
The table of penalties for late submission
is as follows:
| How late are the accounts delivered |
Penalty – Private Company |
Penalty - PLC |
| Not more than one month |
£150 |
£750 |
| More than one month but not more than three months |
£375 |
£1,500 |
| More than three months but not more than six months |
£750 |
£3,000 |
| More than six months |
£1,500 |
£7,500 |
Where the accounts are filed late in two successive financial periods the penalty will be doubled for the second year.
Failure to file confirmation statements or accounts is a criminal offence which could see the directors personally fined in the criminal courts. Late, unpaid penalties will be referred to collection agents and could result in a County Court judgement or a Sheriff Court decree against the company.
What Happens if I Avoid These Penalties?
If you believe these late filing penalties are incorrect, we recommend that you pay them or go through an appeal process. If you fail to pay your late filing penalty this could result in enforcement proceedings being taken on your business. In order to avoid having to pay any penalty fees think about registering for email reminders from companies house to remind you that the
deadline is approaching.
Can I Appeal These Penalties?
It is possible
to appeal against a penalty, but it will only be successful if the appellant can demonstrate that the circumstances of the late filing were exceptional.
Companies House has confirmed that it might take longer than usual to reply to appeals. Companies House will suspend all recovery action until a request has been considered and the applicant has received a full reply.
Rejected Appeal’s
If an appeal is rejected by company’s house there is another step you can make. Contact the late filing, and penalties department at the appropriate company’s house office. They will review your case again to see if your appeal decision was correct. If you decide to take the appeal for late filing to this level, it’s important that you don’t contact the adjudicators until you have heard from the senior casework unit
Contact us today
If you need assistance filing your accounts to Companies House, please speak with your Local
Moore (South) office. We can take the burden off you to ensure that you file your confirmation statements on time at Companies House.