We are all aware that we should be wary of suspicious emails. However, the scammers are getting more sophisticated.  We have received one today supposedly from Companies House in respect of their eReminder Service.

What is the Companies House eReminder Service?

The Companies House eReminder Service is something which companies can set up so that they receive an email when either their accounts or confirmation statement is due. We actively manage these deadlines for our clients, so it’s not something which we’ve particularly subscribed to.  That was one of the reasons why, when we received the email, it raised our suspicion.

On the whole, the email looked quite convincing. However, it said that our company’s accounts are due by 25/05/2017.  If this was the case, then Companies House would have been jumping up and down, most notably in terms of the late filing penalties which would be payable.

It then went on to say that the accounts must be delivered by 01/05/2015, which is almost 3 years ago!

Inevitably, the final clue that it’s a scam was that the email address wasn’t from Companies House.  Interestingly, the email address looks OK on a smart phone.  However, when viewed in Outlook, the full incorrect address is more obvious.

This is just another reminder that you need to keep your wits about you in respect of scams. If you receive an email like this, and are unsure as to whether it is genuine, please don’t hesitate to ask us.

NB if you are interested in setting up a Companies House eReminder, then please let us know.  Alternatively see here.

 

With effect from 30 June 2016, the annual return is being replaced by the Confirmation Statement.  If you’re wondering what this means in practical terms, the answer is ‘very little’.

The Confirmation Statement will need to be filed annually, which will be in line with the existing date for filing the Annual Return.  However, the window to file an Annual Return is 28 days, whereas the window for a Confirmation Statement will be 14 days.  There will have a filing fee of £13 (if filed online) or £40 (if filed by paper).

The following information will be required:

• The registered office
• The Directors and Company Secretary (if any)
• Where the company keeps its records if it uses a single alternative inspection location
• The company’s principal business activity
• A statement of capital, unless there have been no changes
• Whether the company is a traded company
• The Shareholders, unless there have been no changes
• Details of the register of People with Significant Control (PSC)

Comment

As part of our service to limited company clients, we track when their annual return is due in order to make sure that it isn’t missed. We intend to provide a similar service in respect of Confirmation Statements.

 

From 6 April 2016, there is a legal requirement for all companies to maintain a register of People with Significant Control (PSC).  A PSC is an individual who meets one or more of the following five conditions:

1. Directly or indirectly holds more than 25% of the shares,
2. Directly or indirectly holds more than 25% of the voting rights,
3. Directly or indirectly holds the right to appoint or remove the majority of directors,
4. Has the right to exercise, or actually exercises, significant influence or control,
5. Has the right to exercise, or actually exercises, significant influence or control over the activities of a trust or firm which is not a legal entity.

In respect of format, the register can be held electronically or hand written, but it must contain the following information on each individual:

• Name.
• Date of birth.
• Nationality.
• Country, state or part of the UK where the individual usually lives.
• Service address (this is in effect a correspondence address, we suggest using the companies registered office).
• Usual residential address (this must not be disclosed when the register is made available for inspection and will not be disclosed by Companies House).
• The date the individual became a PSC (default date should be 6 April 2016 if individual would have been a PSC before this date).
• Which conditions are being met, i.e. 1) to 5)
  • If conditions 1) or 2) are met then they must disclose which category they fall under; Over 25% up to 50%, more than 50% and less than 75%, 75% or more.
  • The register only needs to state if an individual meets condition 4) if they do not meet one of the conditions 1) to 3).
• Whether an application has been made for an individual’s information to be protected from public disclosure (which can only be made if there is a threat of violence or intimidation).

More information is available here.

Just when you think you are aware of most of the scams you need to look out for, you find another!  These two purport to be from Companies House, but they are not.

Late Filing Penalty Payment

The way the scam works is like this:

If accounts are late in being filed with Companies House, they will be indicated as such on their website, which is publicly available.

Companies have been contacted asking for payment of a late filing penalty over the telephone. The caller says they will accept a payment of £5 by credit or debit to place a hold on any further action being taken.

Companies House will NOT contact you for immediate payment of a late filing penalty or request payment of a nominal fee to place a hold on any recovery action.

Payment plans are set up with the agreement of the manager dealing with your late filing penalty query. Companies House will not cold call you to take a payment.

 

Request for Information

Companies have been contacted by persons claiming to be from Companies House, who ask them for details of their company’s directors.

Companies House personnel will never contact you by telephone to find out who your officers are, or ask for secure information such as authentication codes.

This is especially important in respect of authentication codes as we actively encourage clients to register for PROOF, which is a way of combating fraud by making sure that documents can only be filed with Companies House online, as opposed to paper submissions.

If you anyone contacts you claiming to be from Companies House asking for this information, try to obtain a return telephone number and contact Companies House immediately on 0303 1234 500.

 

More details on Fraud and Companies House can be found here.

 

 

 

If you trade through a limited company or Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), then your company information is publically available on Companies House website. Until recently, the basic information, such as registered office, directors, accounting reference date, dates of documents filed, has been free and fairly easy to access, as we’ve highlighted before. Documents filed with Companies House, such as accounts and annual returns, could be viewed for a small fee.

However, Companies House has now made it all FREE AND EASY!

You can now view any document filed by a company for free, which is great and will obviously save you money if you are going to look at documents.  However, the biggest element of the change is how much easier it is to access this information. When you’ve chosen the company you want to view, click on the ‘filing history’ tab. You will see the date when documents were filed, details about the documents, and also the opportunity to view or download the documents as PDF files. From the initial click onto the website, you can have the filed documents being shown on your screen in less than half a minute.

Try it for yourself. Click here for the Companies House website, then click on the big FREE (or click here).

 

We recently came across a new company scam from the Register of Companies and Businesses.  We set a new limited company up for a client in April, and he received the above letter (we have blocked out the company name for obvious reasons).  He knew instantly it was a scam, as he’s had many limited companies before, but thought we may find it funny!  Basically, the letter is a call to action – namely to visit a website (www.regist.co.uk) and pay for ‘the publication of your company’.

However, the position is this; if you set up a new limited company, there is absolutely no requirement to register on this website.  It is a scam, although it is subtle.  There are no threats, it does not state any legal requirements to register.  It simply says ‘lack of payment will result in lack of entry in the Register of Companies and Businesses’.  If you are concerned what this may mean, I would suggest you visit the website.  It is akin to having your company name put up on a wall in a room where no one goes!

There are articles on the website, but they are generic, and don’t really mean anything or even make sense.

There is also the register.  If you click on an area, you will see the names of companies which may exist, or may be fictional.  The companies may have been conned, or they could be populated to try and give the register credibility.  Either way, the only information is the company name and address.  Pretty useless to anyone.

Finally, as you may suspect, the Register of Companies and Businesses is nothing to do with Companies House.

So the bottom line is – if you receive a letter from the Register of Companies and Businesses, do not respond, there is no requirement to and you will be paying £190 for nothing.