New consultations: Government launches three new consultations about filings at Companies House

The three consultations are aimed at reducing fraud through misuse of UK companies and improving the information about companies held at Companies House, and are elements in wider government plans to reform Companies House.

The first consultation 'Corporate transparency and register reform: improving the quality and value of financial information on the UK companies register' asks:

• how companies could file just one set of accounts in practice, rather than separate sets with Companies House, HMRC and other agencies;
• what the filing options should be for small company accounts;
• whether all companies should have to file accounts digitally, with no paper option; and
• whether Companies House could carry out additional checks on filed accounts.

The second consultation'Corporate transparency and register reform: powers of the registrar' asks how, in practice, Companies House should exercise its proposed new, discretionary powers to check and query information filed with it (targeted at criminals who misuse corporate structures).

The third consultation 'Corporate transparency and register reform: implementing the ban on corporate directors' is on how to implement the proposed ban on corporate directors of UK companies unless their own directors are all 'natural persons' - ie actual human beings - whose identities have been verified by Companies House.

The closing date for each consultation is 3 February 2021.

Operative date

• Now

Recommendation

• Check out the consultations on improving the quality and value of financial information on the UK companies register, on the powers of the registrar and on implementing the ban on corporate directors on the GOV.UK website.