The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act became law in October 2023. The bill will deliver a suite of wide-ranging reforms to tackle economic crime and improve transparency over corporate entities, and, to achieve this, reforms will be made to Companies House. Companies House have now announced the first set of changes they will be introducing, with a planned date of 4 March 2024. It should be noted that to achieve this secondary legislation is required and this is dependent on parliamentary time.
At the bottom of this article is a link to a full summary of changes coming in with effect from 4 March. In summary, there are three key changes which will impact all corporate clients.
1.New rules for registered office addresses
From 4 March 2024, companies must have an ‘appropriate address’ as their registered office. An ‘appropriate address’ is one where: –
- any documents sent to the registered office may be expected to come to the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company.
- any documents sent to that address can be recorded by an acknowledgement of delivery.
This means that a PO Box cannot be used as a registered office address from 4 March 2024. Any corporate entity using a PO Box as their registered office address will need to change it by that date. It is acceptable to continue to use a service provider address provided they meet the definition of ‘appropriate address’. Failing to change PO Box addresses could have serious implications such as proceedings to strike off the company.
2.Registered email addresses
From 4 March there will be a new requirement for all companies to give a registered email address to Companies House. This will not be published on the public register.
From 4 March new companies will need to give an email address when they incorporate.
Existing companies will need to give their email address when they file their next confirmation statement with a date from 5 March 2024. Companies will have a duty to maintain an appropriate email address in the same way as their registered office.
3.Statement of lawful purpose
When new companies incorporate from 4 March 2024 the subscribers (shareholders) will need to confirm that they are forming the company for a lawful purpose. Companies will also need to confirm that their intended activities are lawful on their confirmation statement filed each year.
Companies House blog – Get ready for changes to UK company law
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