Statement of Capital – Share Premium Problems !

Back in January you may remember that I brought up this issue.

The bad news is there are further problems with Companies House forms. The annual return that impacts every company has a flaw. There is a requirement to insert in part F1 and F2 of the form the total amount paid on each share ie the nominal value and the share premium for each share issue. For many companies where only 2 shares were issued at £2 this is no problem. For more complex situations where there has been say 50 allotments with bonus shares; preference shares; rights issues etc this level of analysis is going to be difficult to obtain. The good news is that I have had it verbally confirmed from Companies House that they are happy, where complex situations arise, to ignore the share premium and to receive an aggregated number ie only one line entry confirming the nominal value of shares issued for each class of share. I have asked the question three times and had the same answer from representatives at Companies House, however they will not put this in writing to me. I can also confirm that submitted annual returns with this approach appear to get lodged successfully. You may want to satisfy yourself and seek advice from Companies House before you follow my approach. Lets hope that Companies House are able to provide real guidance in this area soon. 

For more information on company secretarial matters visit our formation site www.wisteriaformations.co.uk.  Wisteria is a firm of Chartered Accountants and Chartered Tax Advisers - www.wisteria.co.uk.