January 2009 - New penalty and filing deadline regime

Increased penalty bands apply to any accounts that are delivered late on or after 1 February 2009, whether they are filed under the Companies Act 1985 or the Companies Act 2006 (any penalties for late submission of accounts under the Companies Act 2006 are for financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2008).

The following table shows these bands:

Length of delay (measured from the date the accounts are due)	Private company	Public company
Not more than 1 month	£150	£750
More than 1 month but not more than 3 months	£375	£1,500
More than 3 months but not more than 6 months	£750	£3,000
More than 6 months	£1,500	£7,500

Double penalties

The amounts set out in the table above will be doubled in cases where:

The accounts are filed late under the Companies Act 2006; and

The previous year’s accounts under the 2006 Act (i.e. for a financial year beginning on or after 6 April 2008), were also late.