{"id":434,"date":"2020-04-15T10:54:31","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T10:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theworkspacetest.com\/audreygrey\/2020\/04\/15\/filing-of-annual-returns\/"},"modified":"2020-04-15T10:54:31","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T10:54:31","slug":"filing-of-annual-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theworkspacetest.com\/audreygrey\/2020\/04\/15\/filing-of-annual-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"Filing of Annual Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">COVID-19 or no COVID-19, your company needs to ensure that you are compliant with your regulators.\u00a0 The crisis means that many companies are more focused on other matters particularly business continuity (which we will treat later on ) but let\u2019s start from the basics. \u2013 Filing of annual returns &#8211; Section 126 (of the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992) requires all companies registered in Ghana to file Annual Returns\u00a0with the Registrar General&#8217;s Department (\u2018RGD\u2019) thirty-six (36) days after their financial statements have been dispatched to its members and signed by directors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Due to restriction of movement in Ghana to contain the COVID-19 Epidemic,\u00a0 the Registrar General has extended the deadline for filing of annual returns for the following classes of companies :<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Companies Limited by Shares\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Companies Unlimited by Shares\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Companies Limited by Guarantee\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">External Companies\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Renewal of Partnerships\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What this means is that if your financial year ended on 31 December 2019, you now have up to 30 June 2020 to file your annual returns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your financial year ended before 30 June 2019 are expected to file returns by 30 December 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Basically, whenever your returns were originally due, you now have \u00a0a minimum of three (3) extra months within which to file.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Broadly, annual returns detail the general position of a company. They are to give an indication of the financial and non-financial state of the company.\u00a0 Therefore, in preparation of the annual returns be sure to provide accurate information on the management, directors or trustees of the company. Don\u2019t forget about the debenture holders and the state of the indebtedness of the company as well as the company\u2019s principal place of business. Also, attach the audited financial statements for the past financial year.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, you are also required to provide information on the movements in share capital, the number of shares, past and current members (shareholders), beneficial ownership information and other matters as at the date of the\u00a0 Annual General Meeting (AGM). These details help to assist the Registrar General to know the corporate position of the Company as at the date of the filing of the returns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A company need not make a return in its year of incorporation or in a year ending less than 18 months after the date of incorporation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The audited accounts of external companies are required to be filed once every year at intervals of not more than fifteen (15) months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So don\u2019t get too flustered \u2013 you have a bit of time \u2013 ensure you get your financial statement ready and audited and get those returns filed before penalties start to accrue. Don\u2019t forget, the Registrar of Companies would publish the names of companies who have submitted their returns in the Companies Bulletin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Penalty<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regularly, the Company, and each officer of the Company would be liable to pay a penalty of twenty-five (25) penalty units (GHS300) <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for every day during which the default continues.\u00a0 Companies that fail to file within the extended period would be liable to an increased penalty of four hundred and fifty (450) ghana cedis effective 6 July 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Should you have any questions, require further clarification or wish to further discuss this requirement, kindly feel free to get in touch. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>COVID-19 or no COVID-19, your company needs to ensure that you are compliant with your regulators.\u00a0 The crisis means that many companies are more focused on other matters particularly business&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7,5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corporate","8":"category-covid-19","9":"category-legal","10":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworkspacetest.com\/audreygrey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworkspacetest.com\/audreygrey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworkspacetest.com\/audreygrey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworkspacetest.com\/audreygrey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworkspacetest.com\/audreygrey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theworkspacetest.com\/audreygrey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworkspacetest.com\/audreygrey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theworkspacetest.com\/audreygrey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworkspacetest.com\/audreygrey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theworkspacetest.com\/audreygrey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}