- Original Poster
- #1
Hello everyone,
I'm approaching my company's first anniversary. For the context, the company was incorporated on 7 November 2023, which makes the ARD to be on 30 November, as per the CH's rules. It also should be noted that since its incorporation the company has been fully dormant (it just happened so, couldn't start real business). Nevertheless, I must file with both CH and HMRC to comply with the requirements.
Now, the deadlines:
- normally, if you are already trading, you have 9 months from your ARD for a private LTD to file its accounts
("Unless you are filing your company’s first accounts, the time normally allowed for delivering accounts to Companies House is:
The CH's Accounts Guidance, when referencing first accounts (my case), says further in the Deadlines section (5.2) that:
"If you are filing your company’s first accounts and those accounts cover a period of more than 12 months (my emphasis), you must deliver them to Companies House:
"If the first accounts cover a period of 12 months or less, the normal times allowed for delivering accounts apply." (that is, 9 months from the ARD, I presume – the "normal" timeframe allowed for all companies).
QUESTION 1: What deadline is applicable in my case – 9 months or 21 months from my ARD?
QUESTION 2: Could anyone explain to me, how it is at all possible to have a period of more than 12 months? Or, for that matter, a period of 12 months or less?
My reasoning is this:
- Company incorporated on 7 November
- ARD is 30 November
- accounting period is for the time from 30 November previous year to 30 November this year
How can the period for which I'm filing the accounts be greater than the time, elapsed from 30 November last year to 30 November this year? Even if I do the actual filing of accounts within any of the 9 "normal" months allowed for a company, I am accounting for 12 months' financial period, am I not? Say, I will actually file in December this year or January next year. This does not change my financial period, right? I still will be reporting ANNUAL transactions which happened (or not happened at all in my case) from 30 November last year to 30 November this year, but not from 30 November last year to whatever date in December or January it is when I actually file.
Am I correct in my assumptions or I'm missing something? I apologize if this may seem dumb, but I come from the US LLC accounts filing environment, so I may really be missing something, and I will definitely appreciate any guidance here (and no, "Hire an accountant" replies will not insult me
, though I would prefer a kind of explanation of what doesn't fit into my logical assumptions .
Thank you all who care to reply.
I'm approaching my company's first anniversary. For the context, the company was incorporated on 7 November 2023, which makes the ARD to be on 30 November, as per the CH's rules. It also should be noted that since its incorporation the company has been fully dormant (it just happened so, couldn't start real business). Nevertheless, I must file with both CH and HMRC to comply with the requirements.
Now, the deadlines:
- normally, if you are already trading, you have 9 months from your ARD for a private LTD to file its accounts
("Unless you are filing your company’s first accounts, the time normally allowed for delivering accounts to Companies House is:
- 9 months from the accounting reference date, for a private company" – source: CH's Accounts Guidance (can't post a link here, unfortunately).
The CH's Accounts Guidance, when referencing first accounts (my case), says further in the Deadlines section (5.2) that:
"If you are filing your company’s first accounts and those accounts cover a period of more than 12 months (my emphasis), you must deliver them to Companies House:
- within 21 months of the date of incorporation for private companies, or 3 months from the accounting reference date (whichever is longer)"
"If the first accounts cover a period of 12 months or less, the normal times allowed for delivering accounts apply." (that is, 9 months from the ARD, I presume – the "normal" timeframe allowed for all companies).
QUESTION 1: What deadline is applicable in my case – 9 months or 21 months from my ARD?
QUESTION 2: Could anyone explain to me, how it is at all possible to have a period of more than 12 months? Or, for that matter, a period of 12 months or less?
My reasoning is this:
- Company incorporated on 7 November
- ARD is 30 November
- accounting period is for the time from 30 November previous year to 30 November this year
How can the period for which I'm filing the accounts be greater than the time, elapsed from 30 November last year to 30 November this year? Even if I do the actual filing of accounts within any of the 9 "normal" months allowed for a company, I am accounting for 12 months' financial period, am I not? Say, I will actually file in December this year or January next year. This does not change my financial period, right? I still will be reporting ANNUAL transactions which happened (or not happened at all in my case) from 30 November last year to 30 November this year, but not from 30 November last year to whatever date in December or January it is when I actually file.
Am I correct in my assumptions or I'm missing something? I apologize if this may seem dumb, but I come from the US LLC accounts filing environment, so I may really be missing something, and I will definitely appreciate any guidance here (and no, "Hire an accountant" replies will not insult me
, though I would prefer a kind of explanation of what doesn't fit into my logical assumptions .Thank you all who care to reply.
