- The Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) is urging all companies to file their annual returns before December 31, 2022, to avoid being struck off from the Companies Register”, he said.
According to the ORC, a company earmarked to be struck off would be made inactive in the e-register application and therefore cannot be electronically searched.
It went on to say that a company that has been struck off would need a High Court order to be reinstated after showing cause to the court for noncompliance with its obligations.
The ORC has already indicated that it will publish the list of 2,584 dormant and defaulted companies as part of the processes to get these companies off its register.
According to the ORC, this is part of the second phase of the clean-up exercise which started at the beginning of the year and saw over 2,700 dormant and defaulted companies struck off the companies register in accordance with the Companies Act 2019(Act 992) for failure to file their Annual Returns and Amendments with the Office.
“All Company entities namely; Private/Public Companies Limited by Shares, Private/Public Companies Limited by Guarantee (Schools, Associations, Churches, Foundations, Unions, Civil Society Organizations, Fun Clubs, NGO’s, etc.) are to file their Annual Returns together with their Financial Statement with the ORC at a cost of ¢50 or in default pay a penalty of ¢500 in addition to fees own in arrears”.
Per the laws, external companies are required to submit their “Group Account’ with the Office of the Registrar of Companies at a cost of $690 or in default pay $750 in addition to fees owe in arrears.
Sole proprietorships and partnerships are expected to renew their businesses at a cost of ¢30.00 and ¢60.00 respectively. However, a partnership in default would pay a penalty of ¢500 in addition to fees owe in arrears.
The ORC advised the public to be vigilant against fraudsters who use the name of the office to defraud clients by directing them to send Mobile Money to a certain number to renew their businesses for them
Source: Business Analyst