We comment on BIS proposals for simplified company filing requirements.
27 Nov, 2013
We have published our comment letter on the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ (BIS) proposals for simplified company filing requirements. The aim of the proposals, which are part of the government’s Red Tape Challenge, is to reduce the amount of information that companies need to file and the frequency that it is sent to Companies House. We welcome the consultation and are “broadly supportive” of the objective of the Red Tape Challenge.
Our key comments include:
- We do not agree with the proposals to rely solely on event driven notifications in place of the annual return highlighting that this “would lead to a decline in the quality of information held on the register”.
- We strongly disagree with the proposals to include a list of all subsidiaries in a note to the accounts. We comment that “a complete listing, where it is of excessive length for inclusion in the accounts, could either be provided with the annual return, as is currently permitted, or filed together, but as a separate document, with a company’s annual report and accounts”.
- We disagree with the proposals for aligning the filing dates for accounts at both HMRC and Companies House.
Further comments and a full response to all questions raised in the invitation to comment are contained within the full comment letter.
