top tips companies house filing

<p> </p> <p><strong>Companies House support for UK Businesses affected by COVID-19</strong></p> <p>The Covid-19 pandemic has affected UK business in many ways and for many Directors, Companies House filing obligations will be the last thing on their minds.</p> <p>However, there is currently no statutory relief from having to file documents and the timeframes for doing so have not been automatically extended and directors should be mindful of how this might impact their business and how they file documents.</p> <p>Companies House remain committed to supporting UK business during these unprecedented times and have made a number of temporary changes to support UK business.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>New Online Filings</strong></p> <p>You can now use the emergency filing service to file and submit a number of paper documents that do not already have an online option, such as:</p> <p>Follow this link to upload a document to Companies House;</p> <p><a href="https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/efs-submission/start">https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/efs-submission/start</a></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Filing Documents at Companies House </strong></p> <p>Same day services have now been suspended and to file and submit your documents as quickly as possible you can use the existing online service to:</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Apply for an Extension </strong></p> <p>If your accounts will be late because your company is affected by coronavirus, and your filing deadline has not yet passed, you can apply for an automatic and immediate 3-month extension to file your accounts.</p> <p>You can <u>apply to extend your accounts filing deadline online</u> but must do so before your filing deadline. You’ll need:</p> <p>The application takes about 15 minutes and you should receive an immediate decision.  The filing deadline date should also be updated on the company’s record in real time.</p> <p>There are exceptions and your application may not be accepted if you have previously been granted an extension or have applied to shorten your accounting period.</p> <p>You may still receive an automatic letter from Companies House chasing for outstanding accounts. However, you can ignore this letter if you have evidence that you’ve applied for an extension before your filing deadline.</p> <p>Follow the link below to the Companies House website;</p> <p><a href="https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/extensions">https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/extensions</a></p> <p><strong> </strong></p> <p><strong>Appeals </strong></p> <p>If you don’t apply for an extension and fail to file your accounts on time, an automatic penalty will be generated but you can appeal this decision and Companies House has discretion to waive the penalty. Companies House suggest that any appeal sighting Covid-19 will be dealt with sympathetically.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Strike off</strong></p> <p>Companies House have also announced a temporary pause of the strike off process.</p> <p>Voluntary strike off applications will still be registered and published in the Gazette as normal but Companies House will suspend any further action to dissolve the company to protect creditors and other interested parties.</p> <p>Likewise, if you fail to file your accounts or Confirmation Statement on time (or apply to extend) then Companies House will write to you in the normal way, advising you of the statutory requirements and the risk of Compulsory strike off but will not publish the Gazette notice to help businesses file any outstanding documents and bring their records up to date.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Late Registration of Company Charges</strong></p> <p>The statutory 21-day period to register a charge has not been extended and it is therefore important that this done as quickly as possible after completion.  For more guidance on this, please see <a href="https://d-w-s.co.uk/late-registration-charge-companies-house/">https://d-w-s.co.uk/late-registration-charge-companies-house/</a></p> <p><strong>If you’ve received notice that your charge hasn’t been registered in time, contact one of </strong><strong>o</strong><strong>ur team of experienced Solicitors.  We deal with many of these applications and have a proven track record in this field. We also provide our clients with tailor made solutions and cost effective fixed fee pricing to deal with your case.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Daniel Pritchard is an insolvency specialist in the Litigation &amp; Dispute Resolution team and can be contacted on 0116 2999 199, 0116 216 1122 or</p> <p><a href="https://d-w-s.co.uk/team/daniel-pritchard/">https://d-w-s.co.uk/team/daniel-pritchard/</a></p>