Late Filing of Company Accounts: Why Directors Are Facing Increased Enforcement
Companies House is increasing enforcement action against companies that file accounts late, including financial penalties and, in some cases, prosecution of directors.
Filing deadlines are a legal requirement, and responsibility sits with the company director even where an accountant is engaged. Late filing penalties are applied automatically and increase for repeated delays.
Recent regulatory changes have strengthened Companies House powers, meaning non-compliance is more likely to be identified and acted upon.
Whilst this is not new maintaining accurate records and responding promptly to filing requests is essential to avoid penalties. It is important that you record all key dates in your main diary to stay on top of this.
Engagaing an accountant is only one way to help manage deadlines, it is important to ensure that documents, bookkeeping and approvals are all processed in good time.
Companies House has made it even easier to follow your company and register for free email updates online and this is something that we strongly recommend as a quick admin win for all business owners even ours clients.
At the beauty accountant we provide clients with a deadlines section on our client portal along with reminders ahead of a deadline. Once we have received the required documents and approvals we can then make submissions to companies house and HMRC. All important deadlines can be tracked on the business tax account if in doubt or checking outside of business hours.
If you need help managing your deadlines get in touch or if you manage your own tax affairs our self help hub may be perfect for you.
Ongoing support inside the Finance Hub
The Finance Hub membership provides structured guidance on dividends, director loan accounts and company withdrawals.
Inside the Finance Hub you’ll find:
an on-demand learning portal
regular live and recorded sessions
plain-English HMRC updates
accountability sessions
access to the 57 Ways to Profit book club and course
Email hello@thebeautyaccountant.co.uk to learn more and to gain access.