Companies House Duties

It is important that any company changes are updated when they happen to ensure your company details are accurately presented on public record. You must tell the Companies House when there is: appointment of a director (AP01), change of director’s details (CH01) and termination of an appointment director (TM01).

You must update your register of any changes, such as change of personal details or nature of control-this must be done within 14 days of the change-these changes need to advised to Companies House too.

The PSC register records people’s details at Companies House who hold more than 25% of shares in the company, more than 25% of voting rights in the company or the right to appoint or remove the majority of the board of directors

A person with significant control is someone who owns or controls your company. They’re sometimes called ‘beneficial owners’.

Most limited companies are ‘limited by shares’. This means they’re owned by shareholders, who have certain rights. Most companies have ‘ordinary’ shares, but you can apply an alphabet share that will provide different rights to a share. An ordinary share means directors get one vote on company decisions per share and receive dividend payments. A company limited by shares must have at least one shareholder, who can be a director. If you’re the only shareholder, you’ll own 100% of the company.

There is no official definition as to what a personal service company is (PSC) - but it usually refers to a limited company which has been set up to provide the services of a single contractor, who is usually the sole shareholder and company director of the business.

A Limited Company (ltd) is a company “limited by shares”

Not filing your confirmation statements, annual returns or accounts is a criminal offence - and directors could be personally fined in the criminal courts.

Failure to deliver accounts on time is a criminal offence. In addition, the law imposes a civil penalty for late filing of accounts on the company. The amount of the penalty depends on how late the accounts arrive and whether the company is private or public at the date of the balance sheet.

Your accounting reference date (often abbreviated as ‘ARD’) is the final day of your company’s financial year – and the date that your annual accounts must be made up to. It is automatically set by Companies House as the anniversary of the last day of the month of company incorporation.