It's more important than ever to get your books
and records into us on time because from 1st February 2009 private
companies that fail to file their accounts on time will face increased
fines. The maximum fine will be imposed after 6 months rather than the
current 12 months. The fines will also start to increase after a delay
of just one month instead of three months. The new penalties for
private companies are as follows...

The permitted time limit for filing accounts
also comes down from 10 months after the year end to 9 months for
accounting years starting on or after 6 April 2008. In addition where
there was a failure to comply with filing requirements in relation to
the previous financial year (and the previous financial year had begun
on or after 6th April 2008), the penalty will be double that shown
above.

Companies House can expect its late filing penalty
income from private companies to soar to £100 million in 2010, up from
the 2007 figure of £47.4 million.