Companies House is temporarily extending the accounts filing deadline for companies filing accounts from 27 June 2020 to 5 April 2021 (inclusive). Companies utilising this extension will also have an extra three months to deliver their SAO filings.
The change was introduced in response to Covid-19 through Statutory Instrument 2020/645 which came into force on 27 June 2020. The new regulations affect filings of accounts and other documents and are aimed at relieving some of the burdens on businesses during the pandemic so that they can focus on continuing to operate.
Private companies usually file their accounts and deliver their Senior Accounting Officer (SAO) filings (if applicable) by nine months after the end of their financial year. Under the new regulations, this deadline is extended from nine to twelve months and is based on a company’s original financial year-end date.
This means that a private company with a financial year-end of 31 December will have up to 31 December 2020 (instead of 30 September 2020) to file its 2019 accounts at Companies House and deliver its SAO filings to HMRC.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) Tax Faculty recommends that businesses which have an HMRC Customer Compliance Manager inform them in advance of their original SAO filing deadline if they intend to take advantage of the extension. This will help maintain a good working relationship with HMRC and keep them updated on the status of compliance.
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Penalties: Senior Accounting Officers
The Senior Accounting Officer (SAO) of a large company is required under Schedule 46 FA 2009 to ensure the existence of, and report on, the appropriateness of their tax accounting arrangements. Penalties are charged in the event of failures.
COVID-19: Companies House filing extensions
Companies House has announced that it will now automatically extend the deadlines for certain key statutory filing events, such as the filing of company accounts. This is a temporary measure on account of the Coronavirus outbreak.
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