Late Fee Section of Companies Act to be Implemented Sept. 1

Come September 1, 2010, the Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ) will be implementing Section 121 of the Companies Act, which will provide for a penalty of $100 per day up to a maximum of $10,000, to be paid on all Annual Returns that are filed late.
Addressing a JIS ‘Think Tank’ on August 26, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the COJ, Shellie Leon noted that section 121 allows for charges to be made on all companies who fail to file each outstanding annual return within the 28 days after the made up date.
Miss Leon explained that annual returns for companies must be made up on the anniversary date of incorporation or the anniversary date of the last return. This means that annual returns are to be filed on the day they are made up, or within the 28-day grace period after the made up date.
She stressed that after the grace period has passed, all returns are considered late.
“Out of fairness, the COJ has decided to only impact annual returns which are due as of September 1, 2010, meaning the anniversary date for filing would have passed plus the 28 days grace period. So, for someone who is due to make up an annual return August 30, if such a person is late in filing the annual return, that person would be impacted by section 121 and for every day that passes after the 28 days expire, $100 would accrue,” the Deputy CEO pointed out.
Miss Leon urged customers to get themselves ready. “Company officers need to come to the COJ or if you have retained professional help, ask them to check your company file to see if there are any rejected returns as this will impact you because you cannot file a later return if the earlier return is not yet registered,” she advised.
The Deputy CEO explained that although the Companies Act was implemented in 2005, section 121 had to be delayed in order to provide customers the opportunity to become familiar with the new law, the filing obligations of the new law and the new forms.
“In terms of goodwill to our customers and the service that we offer, both internally and externally, we had to make sure that persons were up the learning curve,” Miss Leon said.
She noted too, that over time, the information technology infrastructure had improved, which allowed the COJ to access data on the status of registered companies and their officers, instead of doing it manually.
“We can now generate notices to send to customers and have more capabilities in following up on delinquents and is in a better position to educate and inform customers through public education,” she added.
The Companies Act was implemented to modernise the legislative framework governing company formation, management and administration.