District Court Application to Extend Time to File a Late Annual Return

A. As you know, every company must file an annual return once a year. When you are late with your company’s annual return, you lose your ‘audit exemption’ and you must have your accounts audited.

 

Since 1 June 2015 however, new rules have been introduced which allow you to apply to your local district court for an extension of time to file your annual return with the Companies Registration Office (CRO).

 

Some important points to note in respect of this process are as follows:

 

• to make an application a company must appoint a barrister or a solicitor as it may not represent itself
• the application must be made to the District Court where the location of the Registered Office is
• an application to the Court can only be made in respect of an annual return which has not already been delivered to the CRO
• only one Order may be made in respect of a particular year
• the Order may, at the discretion of the Court, be granted to include multiple years for which returns are outstanding.
• the extension of time to file an annual return does not alter the Annual Return Date (ARD) of the company for future returns

 

Finally it should also be noted that any company that has been struck off the companies register cannot proceed with this application.

 

This is a potential option for you to pursue however you will have to weigh up the cost of paying the late filing penalties in addition to the cost of an audit against the cost of making the application to the District Court. Depending on the size of your company the district court application may or may not be the cheaper option.

 

Your local TaxAssist Accountant can discuss your options with you. Call us today for a free consultation.

 

 

Date published 24 Mar 2016

This article is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this article, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.