UK Company administration (Compliance Watch)

Every limited company in England has various obligations that must be completed to avoid fines or the company being automatically deleted, which is particularly the case if an annual return/confirmation statement or balance sheet is not filed. We complete these tasks for you in the correct form and on time, so that you don't have to worry about anything yourself and your company is kept harmless.

Annual obligations of a limited company in England

Similar to GmbHs in Germany, limited companies in England also have various statutory annual obligations that company operators must comply with.

English company law requires a certain level of transparency due to the limited liability of limited companies, mainly for creditor protection purposes.

The English commercial register therefore imposes various annual publication obligations on every company, so that third parties or the shareholders of a limited company can obtain information at any time about fundamental matters and also the financial situation of the company.

Essentially, every limited company must submit its annual accounts for publication to Companies House at the end of the respective financial year. In addition, an annual company report (confirmation statement) must be submitted, which serves to update the master data registered at Companies House.

In addition, there is also an initial obligation to make a declaration to the English tax office: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) sets a deadline of nine months within which a tax return must be submitted after the end of the respective financial year.

Duties apply to all Limiteds

All obligations are initially imposed on every limited company, regardless of whether the company starts business after it is founded or remains inactive (dormant company, "dormant" company). The place of administration of the company is also irrelevant, so that these obligations also apply in full to limited companies operating in Germany or elsewhere outside of England. The only difference here is the specific procedure used to fulfill these obligations.

The managing director is responsible and is supported by the “secretary”

The managing director of the limited company is responsible for the processing and, above all, for compliance with the respective deadlines. Traditionally, these administrative tasks are almost completely delegated to the "secretary", who is typically entrusted with these things and who - with the exception of the balance sheet and the tax return - is also authorized to sign.

However, since April 2008, limited companies no longer have to appoint a "secretary" - but the management can or must do everything themselves.