In the UK, there are regulatory filing requirements for company accounts. The Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) requires that a company files its accounts and reports with the Registrar of Companies within certain time lines. Private companies must file within nine months of the end of their accounting reference period and Public companies must file their accounts and reports within six months of the end of their accounting reference period.
Special provisions can apply to these file timelines, for example, when the accounting reference period is the company’s first and is longer than 12 months or when an accounting reference period is shortened.
When events beyond their control mean companies are unable to meet their filing deadline, companies may apply for an extension. The deadline extension must be applied for before the normal filing deadline. Automatic filing penalties are imposed when accounts are filed late, and the registrar has very limited discretion not to collect a penalty.
Changing your company’s year end
You can change your company’s year-end, to make your company’s financial year run for more or less than 12 months. You can do this for your company’s current financial year or the one immediately before it. When you do this, you will also change your deadline for filing accounts, unless you’re lengthening your company’s first financial year.
You can shorten your company’s financial year as many times as you like – the minimum period you can shorten it by is 1 day.
You can lengthen your company’s financial year:
- to a maximum of 18 months, or longer if your company’s in administration
- once every 5 years
You can only lengthen the financial year more often than every 5 years if:
- the company is in administration
- you’re aligning dates with a subsidiary or parent company
- you have special permission from Companies House
We hope you found the above information useful. If you have any additional questions around bookkeeping or payroll then please get in touch.