Red Tape Challenge.
As part of the UK Government’s intention to make regulations more relevant to the world we live in there is a consultation on the filing requirements for UK companies. The pdf document can be downloaded from the gov.uk website. Included in the consultation are suggestions to reduce the burden of form-filling for small businesses including scrapping the annual return and reducing the need to hold duplicate information at your registered office and Companies House.
The consultation document goes into great detail on the costs and benefits of each change being proposed. The cost saving to companies in not having to complete the annual return is assessed at £1.60, but this ignores any fines incurred by people who have missed their deadlines for filing.
Have your say.
The last consultation from Companies House only received a few hundred responses (according to my source) so if you have strong feelings on bureaucracy imposed on you, your response will have some impact. If you are uncertain of your filing requirements you can ask an accountant who will be able to advise on anything you need to do.
Checking the record.
If you are company you can check your details on the Companies House website, or at the following link replacing the last eight characters with your own company registration:
http://data.companieshouse.gov.uk/doc/company/SC433814
If your company registration has fewer than eight characters add leading zeros to make it the correct length. Of course you don’t have to limit yourself to checking your own details – whenever you are considering a new customer or supplier who is a limited company / limited liability partnership etc. it is a good idea to check their entry on the companies house register to get more information on them including names of directors.
Useful links
| Companies House WebCHeck | http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//wcframe?name=accessCompanyInfo |
| Red Tape Challenge | http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/home/index/ |
| GOV.UK public consultations | https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?publication_filter_option=consultations |
Business Accountant 