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.
A three-month filing extension was announced from 25 March 2020 which had to be claimed in advance. This has now been modified and from 27 June 2020, late filing deadlines are automatically extended until 5 April 2021. Details of your new filing deadline will now show on the Companies House website.
| Accounts filing obligation (following date of the end of your accounting period) | Normal deadline | COVID deadline |
| PLC accounts | 6 months | 9 months |
| Private company & LLP accounts | 9 months | 12 months |
| Overseas companies who are required to prepare and disclose accounts under parent law | 3 months | 6 months |
| Societas Europaeas (SEs) | 6 months | 9 months |
Further filing deadlines are also extended for:
- Confirmation statement: the current 14-day deadline is extended to 42 days.
- Event-driven filings (changes to your company): the current 14-day deadline is extended to 42 days.
- Mortgage charges: for charges created on or after 6 June 2020, the period to deliver the particulars of a charge will automatically increase to 31 days.
Other points
- Public companies and Societas Europaeas (SEs) whose original filing deadline fell before 30 June 2020 received an extension to their accounts filing deadline under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 and will receive no further extension under the regulations.
- The extension granted by the regulations will apply to your original filing deadline. It will not be added to the filing extension already granted by Companies House.
- Companies House state that this is a temporary measure. It will not automatically extend any filing deadlines that fall on 6 April 2021 or later.
- You must apply for an extension if your company’s filing deadline falls on 6 April 2021 or later and you need more time to file your accounts.
