Integration of Companies Registry Northern Ireland with Companies House, Cardiff

1 October 2009 saw the final stage of incorporation of the Companies Act and signalled the commencement of a single company law regime for the whole of the United Kingdom. One of the upshots of this is that Companies Registry Northern Ireland is now fully integrated with Companies House, Cardiff, and responsibility for its governance has transferred from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment NI (DETI) to the Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS).

What does this mean for Northern Irish companies?
There are currently approximately 38,000 live companies in Northern Ireland. As of 1 October 2009, the current Companies Registry offices in Belfast is a regional office of Companies House. The NI prefix on company numbers for companies incorporated in Northern Ireland remains, together with the requirement that all companies incorporated in Northern Ireland must have their registered office in Northern Ireland. Under the 2006 Act, only those companies registered outside of the United Kingdom will be overseas companies, meaning that there is no longer a requirement to register branches with the specific jurisdictions where a Northern Irish company wants to open a branch in England, Scotland or Wales.

From the start of October 2009, every Northern Irish company now has full access to Companies House products and services. These services include a subscription service through Companies House Direct and WebCHeck, a pay-as-you-go service which supports credit and debit card payments. Northern Irish companies also have access to Companies House’s online filing service, ‘WebFiling’ from early October 2009. These online services are open seven days a week, from 7.00am to midnight.

Form changes
The incorporation of the single company law regime for the whole of the UK has necessitated the creation of standardised forms which are largely revised versions of existing forms. We have found that the new forms are much more thorough in terms of the details now required. For more particular details on the changes as they relate to the registration of mortgages and charges, please refer to my colleague Douglas Anderson’s article in this e-brief.

Late filing penalties
Under the new Companies House regime, late filings carry an additional cost. As many of you will be aware, companies must file accounts annually whether they are trading or not. Strict filing time limits have been set down by the Government which will be based on each company’s accounting reference date. Where these accounts are filed late, they will result in the following automatic penalties:

Companies House released a statistic earlier this year that around 135,000 sets of accounts are rejected each year because information has been missing when they have been submitted. It is therefore important for companies to ensure that accounts are complete to avoid triggering the above penalty structure.

Think ‘e’!
Companies House is making a big push to raise the profile and usage of its online or ‘e’ filing system. The undoubted benefit of online filing includes saving time, meeting filing deadlines and keeping information on the company up-to-date, thereby creating third-party confidence in the company. Those responsible for company administration should investigate the new support available and consider how appropriate it will be for their particular requirements.

Contact details
Contact details for Companies House are as follows:

Contact centre: (0303) 1234 5000
from 8.30am to 6.00pm,
Monday to Friday

Email: enquiries@companies-house.gov.uk
Website: www.companieshouse.gov.uk
Address: Waterfront Plaza
8 Laganbank Road
Belfast
BT1 3BS

Should you require further information on any of the issues
raised in this article, please contact John on 028 9055 3343 or by e-mail, john.turley@tughans.com