The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act was passed into law in October 2023, and the Government are aiming to implement the first of the resulting changes on the 4th March 2024. This article details the changes and what they might mean for your business.
New Rules for Registered Office addresses
From March 2024, your company must be registered at an “appropriate address”, meaning that any documents sent there can be recorded by an acknowledgement of delivery, and can be expected to come the attention of a person acting on behalf of the company.
This means that if you’re currently using a PO box as your registered address, or your registered address otherwise does not meet these criteria, you will need to update it urgently with an appropriate alternative.
You can still use a third-party agent’s address if they meet the criteria for an appropriate address. For example, if your company is registered at your accountant’s office, this is still OK.
Where Companies House identify an inappropriate registered office address, they will transfer it to a default address held at Companies House, and an appropriate address must be provided, along with evidence of a link to it, within 28 days. After 28 days, if they have not received the appropriate evidence, they will begin the process to strike the company off the register.
You’ll need a registered email address
From 4th March 2024 there will be a new requirement for all companies to provide a registered email address to Companies House. New companies must provide an email address when they incorporate, while existing companies will have to provide one when they file their first confirmation statement after 5th March 2024.
This email address will be used by Companies House to communicate with your company, but will not be published on the public register.
Companies will be required to maintain an appropriate registered email address, in the same way as their registered office address.
Statement of lawful purpose
In order to underline the duty of all companies to operate in a lawful way, a “statement of lawful purpose” will be required.
At incorporation, the shareholders will need to confirm they are forming the company for a lawful purpose.
Confirmation statements must confirm the company’s intended future activities are lawful.
Companies House will not accept documents where these statements have not been confirmed.
The changes will also include:
Greater powers to query information and request supporting evidence
The ability to annotate the register when information appears confusing or misleading
Steps to clean up the register using data matching to identify and remove inaccurate information
Sharing data with other government departments and law enforcement agencies.
What will happen next?
The Government intend to implement these changes on 4th March 2024, but as secondary legislation is required, this date is subject to change. more information is expected in the coming weeks, and we will share updates as and when they are available.
If you have questions or if we can help in any way, please call our expert team on 01296 468483 or email info@orangegenie.cm.