Latest / The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business / EP133 - Companies House Is Changing: What Every Business Owner Needs to Know

Transcript

EP133 - Companies House Is Changing: What Every Business Owner Needs to Know · The 3Bz Podcast - Building Better Business

• 0:01
  Hi there business owner, and welcome to the Three BS Podcast,
• 0:04
  the place where we go beyond the numbers and dive into the
• 0:07
  strategies to help you build a Better Business one step at a
• 0:10
  time. I'm your host, Stephanie, a
• 0:12
  multi awarding entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in
• 0:15
  the bookkeeping and currency world.
• 0:17
  If you're a business owner looking to streamline, grow and
• 0:19
  get back the time that you deserve, you're in the right
• 0:21
  place tackling real world problems, answering tough
• 0:24
  questions and digging deep into business building secrets in
• 0:27
  just 15 minutes each week. So Are you ready to build a
• 0:31
  Better Business with confidence and clarity?
• 0:33
  Then let's go. Welcome back to another episode
• 0:37
  of the Three Bees podcast. I'm Stephanie Marshall, your go
• 0:41
  to for straight talking finance, no fluff business advice and
• 0:45
  helping you stay one step ahead of the stuff that nobody warned
• 0:49
  you about as a business owner. And today I've got a public
• 0:52
  service announcement for UK business owners.
• 0:55
  Company's house is changing and it's not just background admin.
• 0:59
  It affects what you need to file, who can file it and how
• 1:02
  your business details are verified.
• 1:04
  If you are a limited company or are thinking of becoming 1, you
• 1:08
  need to listen to this episode. We're breaking down what's
• 1:10
  already changed, what's coming next and what you need to do
• 1:13
  right now to stay compliant. Let's get into it.
• 1:17
  So first, what is this all about?
• 1:19
  So these changes are part of the Economic Crime and Corporate
• 1:23
  Transparency Act which passed in October 2023.
• 1:27
  Now the goal here was to stop dodgy companies, improve
• 1:30
  transparency and make it harder for people to hide behind fake
• 1:33
  businesses. And that's fair enough.
• 1:36
  But as usual, it means more responsibility on the business
• 1:38
  owner's shoulders. This isn't just a tick box
• 1:41
  exercise or a little update that we just tick the box in the
• 1:44
  confirmation statement. It affects how you file, who can
• 1:48
  file, and what you must disclose going forwards.
• 1:50
  Now as part of this plan, some of the changes are already live
• 1:54
  and these are the registered office address rules.
• 1:56
  So you can no longer use APO Box as a registered office address.
• 2:00
  Your registered office must be an appropriate address, meaning
• 2:03
  post sent there must be received and responded to.
• 2:06
  A registered office doesn't need to be your home address, which I
• 2:08
  know worries a lot of business owners when they start out while
• 2:10
  they work from home. But your registered office does
• 2:13
  need to be an address that's not APO Box.
• 2:15
  There's companies that will do it for you, or if you have a
• 2:17
  accountants, some of those will also offer registered office
• 2:20
  postal services for you. Registered e-mail address now
• 2:24
  required. So every company must now give a
• 2:27
  registered e-mail to Companies House.
• 2:29
  Hallelujah. I'm telling you, we're finally
• 2:31
  getting into the 21st century. It won't be published publicly,
• 2:35
  but you must keep it up to date because they'll use that to
• 2:37
  contact you with notices and reminders and actually bringing
• 2:42
  all of this stuff up into the digital age, which is amazing.
• 2:46
  Confirmation statement changes, so you must now confirm your
• 2:49
  company is being run lawfully when you submit your
• 2:51
  confirmation statement. It sounds dramatic, but it's
• 2:55
  literally just another tick box on the confirmation statement
• 2:58
  which you already have to submit each year anyway.
• 3:00
  If you've not updated your confirmation statement recently,
• 3:03
  now's the time. Have a look, check your date
• 3:06
  because you only get a two week period from the date it's due to
• 3:08
  submit it. So it's one of those ones where
• 3:11
  you have to make sure you time it right, especially if you go
• 3:13
  out on a holiday or anything like that.
• 3:16
  And while those changes have already happened, let's talk
• 3:18
  about what's coming up because there's some big changes that
• 3:21
  are about to roll out next. ACS PS authorized corporate
• 3:25
  service providers. What this means is that you
• 3:29
  won't be able to file changes to your company without its We've
• 3:32
  done ours ready to help business owners to keep on top of the
• 3:37
  changes that are coming in force.
• 3:39
  And then the big, big one is the ID verification for directors
• 3:42
  and persons with significant control or PSCS.
• 3:46
  When you go into the company's house database, you can type in
• 3:48
  your company name, click people and there will be officers,
• 3:52
  directors, shareholders, people with significant controls, all
• 3:56
  directors and people with significant control or PSCS.
• 4:00
  That's people with 25% or more ownership of a business will now
• 4:05
  need to verify their identity with Companies House.
• 4:08
  This includes existing directors and not just new ones.
• 4:12
  So for all of U.S. business owners out there who are running
• 4:14
  legitimate businesses, it is just an admin exercise for us in
• 4:17
  that we just have to verify our our identity.
• 4:21
  The problem lies with the fact that maybe you have companies of
• 4:24
  different accountants, so your registered office is different.
• 4:27
  Maybe you have some companies that you've used your full name
• 4:30
  and some you've used your middle name and then not your middle
• 4:33
  name or your maiden name and you haven't yet changed it to your
• 4:36
  married name. This is going to start to cause
• 4:38
  problems and this actually comes in effect from November.
• 4:40
  So this is going to start stopping you being able to
• 4:43
  submit these things to company's house, which will incur fines
• 4:45
  and penalties, which is why it's so important that we talk about
• 4:48
  it today and get it straight. Now you will need to ID verify
• 4:52
  yourself or get an ACSP to verify your identity.
• 4:57
  Usually it's done with the NFC chip on your passport.
• 5:01
  If you don't have one of those new passports with the NN NFC
• 5:04
  chip with the NFC chip in, I believe there's other ways that
• 5:08
  they can verify your identity, but you just need to get this
• 5:10
  you. Every person has a code.
• 5:12
  What I would suggest is if you are a director with different
• 5:16
  names across different companies or different registered
• 5:18
  addresses, now is the time to start updating those details
• 5:21
  with Companies House so that everything that is yours is
• 5:24
  under one name. Because that's the code that you
• 5:26
  will need to submit in order to file anything like a
• 5:29
  confirmation statement to form a new limited company or to do
• 5:33
  anything on Companies House. Any sort of filing that needs to
• 5:36
  be done, whether that's submitting your confirmation
• 5:38
  statement, submitting your accounts, or your corporation
• 5:41
  tax returns or making changes to businesses or forming new
• 5:45
  companies, you will now need to input this personal code, which
• 5:48
  is proof of your verification of your identity.
• 5:52
  Also, there's the abolition of the company's House web filing
• 5:55
  service. The old system's going, which to
• 5:57
  be honest is is a good thing because it is incredibly
• 6:00
  outdated. But filing will now have to
• 6:02
  happen through software or via your authorised agent.
• 6:05
  You won't be able to manually go into company's house and and
• 6:08
  file anything through their web filing service anymore and more
• 6:13
  power to flag suspicious activity.
• 6:15
  The report also said that company's house will now be able
• 6:18
  to query and reject filings, not just rubber stamping like they
• 6:21
  used to. This is all expected to roll out
• 6:24
  between late 24 and early 25, but you need to be ready now.
• 6:28
  As I say, the ID verification is from the 18th of November 2025,
• 6:32
  so not long. Now, if you've got a
• 6:34
  confirmation statement due at the end of this year or set of
• 6:36
  accounts due at the end of this year, you're going to need that
• 6:38
  code as soon as possible because bookkeepers, accountants, tax
• 6:42
  agents won't be able to file that for you or you won't be
• 6:45
  able to file it through software without those verification codes
• 6:48
  for your identity. So let's keep it simple.
• 6:52
  Here's your To Do List off the back of this episode #1 update
• 6:56
  your registered office address. Make sure it's compliant and
• 6:58
  monitored. Again, you can't use PO Boxes.
• 7:01
  And if you have multiple companies, make sure they're all
• 7:04
  the same. Add your registered e-mail
• 7:06
  address. If you haven't done this via
• 7:08
  confirmation statement yet, do it now.
• 7:11
  You don't get charged twice for submitting a confirmation
• 7:13
  statement throughout the year. You can submit the updates
• 7:16
  throughout the year. You'll still only pay once when
• 7:18
  your annual confirmation statement is due to be updated
• 7:23
  again. If you have multiple companies
• 7:25
  across all of them, I'd keep it the same e-mail address and I'd
• 7:29
  keep the registered office just the same across them all for
• 7:31
  ease of use when verifying your identity.
• 7:36
  Talk to your bookkeeper and accountant, find out if they're
• 7:38
  registered or they're planning to register as as an ACSP if
• 7:41
  they can do your identity verification for you.
• 7:43
  If you've got any questions about this, they should be in
• 7:45
  the loop on it. If not, do come book a free
• 7:47
  school recall with ABCSU K15 minutes we can get together and
• 7:51
  see what it's going to look like for you going forward past post
• 7:54
  November. Prepare for the ID check so make
• 7:57
  sure directors and shareholders are ready to verify the ID when
• 8:01
  required. You can verify your own ID now,
• 8:05
  so you can go on to gov.uk and verify your ID and get your code
• 8:09
  ready. We've already started collecting
• 8:10
  codes in the practice for our clients so that when it comes to
• 8:14
  submitting their accounts or submitting their confirmation
• 8:16
  statement, there won't be a hold for a delay because we've
• 8:19
  already got those details securely saved on file.
• 8:22
  And don't ignore company's house emails.
• 8:24
  They are getting more proactive. They are giving you the
• 8:27
  information you need to know. Emails went out about this
• 8:29
  months ago, so you'll want to stay in the loop.
• 8:32
  If you don't have a bookkeeper on account and you trust to give
• 8:34
  you the information that you need or you do everything
• 8:36
  yourself, then you need to make sure that you're reading those
• 8:39
  Companies House emails. They are few and far between,
• 8:41
  but they usually contain really important information.
• 8:45
  I know what you're thinking. More admin, more things to do,
• 8:48
  great. But honestly, this is bigger
• 8:50
  than admin. These changes will make it
• 8:52
  harder for fake companies to operate to stop, which will stop
• 8:56
  you getting scammed. Let's be honest, help protect
• 8:59
  your business's identity. Force a bit of clean up in the
• 9:03
  UK Business Register, which again, I think is really
• 9:05
  important that if you've got your name in multiple places or
• 9:08
  different registered office addresses, it's time to merge
• 9:11
  them all together. So that the UK business register
• 9:14
  is an accurate reflection of how many directors and shareholders
• 9:17
  and PS ES there are in the UK right now.
• 9:22
  And it gives your clients more trust in your legitimacy.
• 9:25
  So if a supplier in your chain is a limited company, you know
• 9:29
  that they are registered, you know that their ID has
• 9:31
  BeenVerified, you know that you are dealing with a real person
• 9:34
  and a real company, which reduces and limits the risk of
• 9:37
  of being scammed, if not for a better word.
• 9:41
  And yes, it is another thing on your plate, but with the right
• 9:44
  support, you don't have to deal with it all yourself.
• 9:47
  I'm going to be really blunt. If you don't comply to these new
• 9:51
  changes, there's some big risks if you ignore it.
• 9:54
  Company's house can strike your company off the register, close
• 9:57
  your company down, fine you for failing to provide accurate
• 10:00
  information and delay your filings or reject changes.
• 10:04
  And in 2026, these systems are going to be even more connected
• 10:08
  to like MTD and things like that.
• 10:10
  So sorting out now can only help future you.
• 10:13
  To wrap this episode up, company's house is changing for
• 10:16
  real this time. If you're a limited company, you
• 10:19
  can't afford to ignore it. If you're APSC, you can't afford
• 10:23
  afford to ignore it. Sometimes PSCS are secretaries
• 10:25
  and things and wives of of company directors and husbands
• 10:29
  of company directors. But it's important to look at
• 10:31
  them all. Start updating your details now,
• 10:34
  not later, and using an authorized agent to make your
• 10:38
  life easier again with the ACSP and having your company
• 10:42
  registered and having your ID verified as a bookkeeper and
• 10:45
  accountant. It's also a great sign of
• 10:48
  legitimacy. It's a great sign of that you
• 10:51
  are trustworthy, that you are a legitimate practice, that you
• 10:53
  are going to help them and you're not going to hurt their
• 10:55
  business. If you're a client of ABCSUK,
• 10:58
  we've already got this on our radar for you.
• 10:59
  You've already had emails about it.
• 11:01
  We're already getting on with it.
• 11:02
  We're nearly there. If you're not and you feel a bit
• 11:05
  panicked by this, head to AB CS UK and book in a free discovery
• 11:08
  call. We can see if you need a Power
• 11:10
  Hour A1 off service, or actually if signing up for monthly
• 11:14
  support might be more beneficial for you.
• 11:15
  We can get you up to speed. There is no stress needed next
• 11:19
  week we're talking about how to raise your prices without losing
• 11:21
  clients. One of the biggest mindset
• 11:23
  blocks I see in small business owners and I had to deal with
• 11:26
  myself. So hit follow so you don't miss
• 11:29
  next week's episode. Hit that notification bell if
• 11:31
  you're on YouTube and leave a five star review if you can.
• 11:34
  I'd be super grateful. Until then, I hope you have a
• 11:37
  lovely week and I will see you next week for the next episode
• 11:40
  of the Three BS Podcast. Bye.
• 11:43
  And that brings us to the end of another episode of The Three
• 11:46
  Bees podcast. I hope you found it useful and
• 11:48
  that you're walking away with some motivation, inspiration, or
• 11:51
  education to help you build a Better Business.
• 11:54
  Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and of course, connect
• 11:57
  with us on social media for more insights, tips, and behind the
• 11:59
  scenes content. Your next step in building a
• 12:02
  Better Business is just a click away.
• 12:03
  I can't wait to connect with you and I'll see you on the next
• 12:06
  episode. Bye.