ICAS writes to BEIS requesting automatic filing extension
By James E Barbour CA, Director, Policy Leadership
1 February 2021
Automatic extension of accounts filing deadlines due to end on 5 April 2021.
ICAS has written to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) requesting that the automatic extension currently being granted by Companies House for the filing of accounts be continued beyond the 5 April 2021 deadline.
Companies and their advisers should be aware that at this time there are no plans for BEIS to automatically extend any accounts filing deadlines that fall on or after 6 April 2021; however, this is subject to change. Companies may of course still seek to extend their filing deadlines but will need to apply to Companies House to do so. Filing deadlines cannot be extended beyond 12 months after the end of the accounting reference period, so companies will only be able to receive an extension if the filing period has not already been extended up to the maximum time allowed in law.
Automatic extensions to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic were introduced as a temporary measure by the Companies etc. (Filing Requirements) (Temporary Modifications) Regulations 2020 (“the regulations”) which came into force on 27 June 2020. These automatically extended the filing period for private companies from 9 months to 12 months and for public companies from 6 months to 9 months, for those companies which had not already received a filing extension up to the maximum time allowed in law.
For practical purposes this means that private companies with a 30 June 2020 year-end will be granted an automatic extension of 3 months to their accounts filing deadline but those with a 31 July 2020 year-end will not.
For public companies, those with a 30 September 2020 year-end will be granted an automatic extension from 6 months to 9 months as their normal filing deadline falls before 6 April 2021, whereas those with a year end of 31 October 2020 will not be granted an automatic extension and will need to file their accounts within the normal 6-month period.