Ltd Co Confirmation Statement People with Significant Contro
Discussion
Just logged in to Companies House website to file my annual return (it's due tomorrow...), and found out that annual returns are now called Confirmation Statements, and I have to notify them of 'People with Significant Control' (PSCs), apparently. This is all news to me (oops). I'm a one man band operation - I'm director and 100% shareholder, my Mum is director and secretary.
Is there anything I should be aware of regarding PSCs notification? The online form asks if the PSC has applied for their details to be suppressed from the public record, what is that all about??
Is there anything I should be aware of regarding PSCs notification? The online form asks if the PSC has applied for their details to be suppressed from the public record, what is that all about??
That's the problem when you don't have professional help - you get surprised by constantly changing legislation 
The Annual Return ceased to exist almost one year ago. Now companies have to file this new style submission which, although similar in most respects to the annual return, is legally different and now contains a section on Persons of Significant Control (PSC) - which stems from the requirement of new legislation which states that limited companies divulge all people who have an important role in deciding how the company operates.
This means that people who may not be shareholders or directors but who are "pulling the strings" must be listed in the public record.
However, for most small companies, the PSC will be a director and/or a shareholder and that is all that needs to be revealed.
You need to complete the PSC section of the Confirmation Statement screens. The options listed in the PSC notification are fairly straightforward to follow.
Next year, if there have been no changes to the PSC situation, you probably won't have to fill that bit in again.
I just found out the other day, however, that the requirements for PSC are changing already so next year's submission may be different again.
It looks like PSC details are being removed from the Confirmation Statement and will have to be filed separately.
I wonder how many people in your position will not realise this and will only discover they are breaking the law when Companies House notifies them of failing to fulfill their statutory duties as a director?
The Annual Return ceased to exist almost one year ago. Now companies have to file this new style submission which, although similar in most respects to the annual return, is legally different and now contains a section on Persons of Significant Control (PSC) - which stems from the requirement of new legislation which states that limited companies divulge all people who have an important role in deciding how the company operates.
This means that people who may not be shareholders or directors but who are "pulling the strings" must be listed in the public record.
However, for most small companies, the PSC will be a director and/or a shareholder and that is all that needs to be revealed.
You need to complete the PSC section of the Confirmation Statement screens. The options listed in the PSC notification are fairly straightforward to follow.
Next year, if there have been no changes to the PSC situation, you probably won't have to fill that bit in again.
I just found out the other day, however, that the requirements for PSC are changing already so next year's submission may be different again.
It looks like PSC details are being removed from the Confirmation Statement and will have to be filed separately.
I wonder how many people in your position will not realise this and will only discover they are breaking the law when Companies House notifies them of failing to fulfill their statutory duties as a director?
You can't "re-input" what hasn't been submitted before.
For most companies, this is a new set of details compared to what they needed to submit previously. Indeed, the whole concept of a "Person of Significant Control" is new.
It had been expected that the second and subsequent submissions of the "Confirmation Statement" would indeed by a re-submission of what had been entered on the first one - but now that may not be the case.
Obviously, if changes to the "Persons of Significant Control" occur during the year, then those changes need to be notified. It had been expected that these changes would be notified in the Annual Confirmation Statement. It now looks like this will not be the case. It seems that a special, separate filing will be needed for future PSC updates.
For most companies, this is a new set of details compared to what they needed to submit previously. Indeed, the whole concept of a "Person of Significant Control" is new.
It had been expected that the second and subsequent submissions of the "Confirmation Statement" would indeed by a re-submission of what had been entered on the first one - but now that may not be the case.
Obviously, if changes to the "Persons of Significant Control" occur during the year, then those changes need to be notified. It had been expected that these changes would be notified in the Annual Confirmation Statement. It now looks like this will not be the case. It seems that a special, separate filing will be needed for future PSC updates.
mjb1 said:
Is there anything I should be aware of regarding PSCs notification? The online form asks if the PSC has applied for their details to be suppressed from the public record, what is that all about??
It's if, for example, you're under threat of a beating if people knew where you were based. You can apply to not have your details on the public record; if you haven't applied, ignore it, it's not hard The only sticking point is putting the date you became a PSC. You can't put earlier than 6 April 2016.
Eric Mc said:
I wonder how many people in your position will not realise this and will only discover they are breaking the law when Companies House notifies them of failing to fulfill their statutory duties as a director?
Surely that can only happen when the database is 'full', the process for which started at 30 June 2016 and will end on 30 June 2017. By which point anyone who used to do an annual return will have already found out about the change when they tried to submit a return and any new company will have already started with the confirmation statement. The only ones caught will be those who haven't filed anything.PurpleMoonlight said:
It has been input before.
Most people with control will be Directors and/or shareholders.
The raw information was filed previously for a different purpose. That old data, even if it is the same raw information, does not count as it is not carried forward by Companies House to "populate" the PSC requirements. It needs to be filed again.Most people with control will be Directors and/or shareholders.
Once in (from 6 April 2016 on) it is likely that it won't need to be filed again - although they seem to be amending the submission requirements already.
And, of course, any changes to the PSC status of the company will need to be filed.
Eric Mc said:
The raw information was filed previously for a different purpose. That old data, even if it is the same raw information, does not count as it is not carried forward by Companies House to "populate" the PSC requirements. It needs to be filed again.
I know, hence REINPUTTING.bigandclever said:
Eric Mc said:
I wonder how many people in your position will not realise this and will only discover they are breaking the law when Companies House notifies them of failing to fulfill their statutory duties as a director?
Surely that can only happen when the database is 'full', the process for which started at 30 June 2016 and will end on 30 June 2017. By which point anyone who used to do an annual return will have already found out about the change when they tried to submit a return and any new company will have already started with the confirmation statement. The only ones caught will be those who haven't filed anything.For simple companies it MAY just mean shareholders- but there may be others in the background that the filer may not realise also need to be included.
bigandclever said:
mjb1 said:
Is there anything I should be aware of regarding PSCs notification? The online form asks if the PSC has applied for their details to be suppressed from the public record, what is that all about??
It's if, for example, you're under threat of a beating if people knew where you were based. You can apply to not have your details on the public record; if you haven't applied, ignore it, it's not hard The only sticking point is putting the date you became a PSC. You can't put earlier than 6 April 2016.
I haven't previously applied for either/both of these, so can't choose them. Just wondered if it was a bit like opting out of the public bit of the electoral roll, but it sounds like more of an exceptional circumstances kind of thing.
mjb1 said:
There seems to be two parts relating to suppressing personal details: "Has the PSC applied for their personal details to be supressed from the public record?" and "Only tick this box if you have made an application which grants exemption from disclosing the PSC's residential address to credit reference agencies under section 790ZF of the Companies Act 2006."
I haven't previously applied for either/both of these, so can't choose them. Just wondered if it was a bit like opting out of the public bit of the electoral roll, but it sounds like more of an exceptional circumstances kind of thing.
I suspect (but don't know) that if you chose 'yes' to the 'suppress personal details' question, the system would bomb out and you'd be instructed to fill the paper version in. If you care for a google, that would be 's790ZG protection'. The residential address for credit reference agencies comes under 's790ZF protection'.I haven't previously applied for either/both of these, so can't choose them. Just wondered if it was a bit like opting out of the public bit of the electoral roll, but it sounds like more of an exceptional circumstances kind of thing.
you're very unlikely to get the opt out -its only for people who have been victims of violence/serious fraud in the past or are directors of medical research companies etc who are vulnerable to nutters calling at their homes.
One point worth making sure about though is if you submit the PSC forms as a hard copy to CH then ALL your personal details including full date of birth etc is made available on the public record/online. If you do it online they at least hide the DAY of birth even if they do then still give the month and year. If your Ltd Co is registered at your home address that means any fraudster has your address and DoB which is basically all they need to do an identity theft job and apply for loans/credit cards etc in your name. Even with the day hidden they can still do this (some C**t tried to do this to me a couple of years back) so I strongly recommend registering with CIFAS if your details are on Companies House.
The PSC process is not easy to follow on the CH website though -took me an age of going round in circles to get it right.
One point worth making sure about though is if you submit the PSC forms as a hard copy to CH then ALL your personal details including full date of birth etc is made available on the public record/online. If you do it online they at least hide the DAY of birth even if they do then still give the month and year. If your Ltd Co is registered at your home address that means any fraudster has your address and DoB which is basically all they need to do an identity theft job and apply for loans/credit cards etc in your name. Even with the day hidden they can still do this (some C**t tried to do this to me a couple of years back) so I strongly recommend registering with CIFAS if your details are on Companies House.
The PSC process is not easy to follow on the CH website though -took me an age of going round in circles to get it right.
monoloco said:
you're very unlikely to get the opt out -its only for people who have been victims of violence/serious fraud in the past or are directors of medical research companies etc who are vulnerable to nutters calling at their homes.
One point worth making sure about though is if you submit the PSC forms as a hard copy to CH then ALL your personal details including full date of birth etc is made available on the public record/online. If you do it online they at least hide the DAY of birth even if they do then still give the month and year. If your Ltd Co is registered at your home address that means any fraudster has your address and DoB which is basically all they need to do an identity theft job and apply for loans/credit cards etc in your name. Even with the day hidden they can still do this (some C**t tried to do this to me a couple of years back) so I strongly recommend registering with CIFAS if your details are on Companies House.
The PSC process is not easy to follow on the CH website though -took me an age of going round in circles to get it right.
This is my concern, although the previous annual returns already make DoB publicly and freely available to anyone who downloads the pdf of them. It does make me a little twitchy, but seems unavoidable. One point worth making sure about though is if you submit the PSC forms as a hard copy to CH then ALL your personal details including full date of birth etc is made available on the public record/online. If you do it online they at least hide the DAY of birth even if they do then still give the month and year. If your Ltd Co is registered at your home address that means any fraudster has your address and DoB which is basically all they need to do an identity theft job and apply for loans/credit cards etc in your name. Even with the day hidden they can still do this (some C**t tried to do this to me a couple of years back) so I strongly recommend registering with CIFAS if your details are on Companies House.
The PSC process is not easy to follow on the CH website though -took me an age of going round in circles to get it right.
If you are not of sufficient size to have your own HQ then the obvious choice is to use your Accountants address for such purposes. A lot of them do it quite willingly as part of the service.
Next you need to compute a strategy that gets you below the 26% shareholding.
On my recent PSC I declared far less information than I ever declared on an Annual Return. It was a breath of fresh air.
PS I can just picture Eric pulling out his hair
Next you need to compute a strategy that gets you below the 26% shareholding.
On my recent PSC I declared far less information than I ever declared on an Annual Return. It was a breath of fresh air.
PS I can just picture Eric pulling out his hair
Edited by Jockman on Tuesday 14th March 12:04
Jockman said:
If you are not of sufficient size to have your own HQ then the obvious choice is to use your Accountants address for such purposes. A lot of them do it quite willingly as part of the service.
Next you need to compute a strategy that gets you below the 26% shareholding.
On my recent PSC I declared far less information than I ever declared on an Annual Return. It was a breath of fresh air.
PS I can just picture Eric pulling out his hair
Percentage of shareholding is irrelevant if you have significant control.Next you need to compute a strategy that gets you below the 26% shareholding.
On my recent PSC I declared far less information than I ever declared on an Annual Return. It was a breath of fresh air.
PS I can just picture Eric pulling out his hair
Edited by Jockman on Tuesday 14th March 12:04
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff