The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act received royal assent on 26 October 2023 and the first tranche of changes have now come into force which will affect ALL company directors and members of LLP’s. Our Business Services Manager, Stacey Selby, summarises the changes below.
This Act aims to give greater powers to Companies House, to make it an ‘active gatekeeper’ over company creation and a custodian of more reliable data.
Where we manage company secretarial services for your business you will have been (or will be) contacted with regards to the following:-
- Companies are now required to have an ‘appropriate address’ as their registered office (i.e. not a PO Box);
- A requirement for all companies to supply a registered email address;
- A requirement for all companies to confirm they’re forming the company for a lawful purpose.
Companies House have also announced an increase to its fees, which are effective from 1 May 2024, increasing the on-line filing fee from £13 to £34.
The Act also details future planned changes which have not yet been enacted, two of the key changes proposed are:-
- An individual cannot act as a director of a company unless their identity has been verified – Companies House will be launching new verification software where all directors will be required to pass additional identification procedures. We expect this will be in the form on an on-line App, once launched we will issue further guidance.
- It is proposed that small companies will have to file their “profit and loss account” and their “directors’ report”, currently there are exemption against this. There is opposition against this proposed change with the aim to reduce these filing requirements, it is therefore possible that parts of this legislation could be reduced.
You can read more detail by clicking on the link: The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023
If you have any concerns or would like to discuss anything contained in this further, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to help.