Section 214 — Companies Act 1993: Annual return

214 Annual return (1) The board of a company must ensure that there is delivered to the Registrar each year, for registration, during the month allocated to the company for the purpose, an annual return in the prescribed form or in a form the use of which by the company has been approved by the Registrar pursuant to subsection (8) of this section, or as near to it as circumstances allow, and containing as much of the information specified in Schedule 4 to this Act as is prescribed. (2) The annual return must be dated as at a day within the month during which the return is required to be delivered to the Registrar and the information required to be contained in it must be compiled as at that date. (3) The annual return must be signed by a director of the company or by a solicitor or chartered accountant authorised for that purpose. (4) On registration of a company under Part 2 of this Act, the Registrar must allocate a month to the company for the purposes of this section. (5) The Registrar may, by written notice to a company, alter the month allocated to the company under subsection (4) of this section. (6) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section,— (a) A company need not make an annual return in the calendar year of its registration: (b) A subsidiary may, with the written approval of the Registrar, make an annual return during the month allocated to its holding company instead of during the month allocated to it. (7) For the purposes of this section, prescribed means prescribed by regulations made under this Act or by the Registrar by notice in the Gazette and different forms of annual return may be prescribed in respect of different classes of companies. (8) The Registrar may, on the application of any person, approve the use, by such company or companies as the Registrar may specify, of a form of annual return different from that prescribed, and may at any time, revoke, in whole or in part, any such approval. (9) An annual return in a form approved under subsection (8) of this section must contain all the prescribed information. (10) If the board of a company fails to comply with subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section, every director of the company commits an offence and is liable on conviction to the penalty set out in section 374(2) of this Act. Compare: 1955 No 63 ss 130, 131, 132; 1975 No 137 s 13; 1982 No 152 ss 8, 9, 10