Fastest filing in the West

What's the fastest you've ever filed a set of accounts?

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I've got a friend with a dormant company (she trades as a sole trader, but has a company with the same name).

Year end is 31st March. I emailed her today with her £1 dormant set of accounts and asked "Can I file these?". I've yet to get a response but when I do I intend to file. Might yet file this evening if she replies.

What is the fastest you've ever filed a set of accounts?

Could I (in theory) have filed yesterday at 9pm? (Close of business - say 5pm)

Could I even have filed last Friday evening (or would Companies House have prevented that)?

Replies (10)

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John Toon
By John Toon
01st Apr 2019 18:29

Given the CoHo computers are always on (most of the time) I'd assume you could file at 00:01 on 1 April.

Your friend does appear to have made the same mistake as many other businesses in assuming that registering a company with their trading name provides some form of IP protection (unless this wasn't the reason and they intend to use the company for trading).

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Replying to johnt27:
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By thevaliant
01st Apr 2019 23:00

She set it up as a 50:50 shareholding with a friend without advice. But she said she was going to do 70% of the work and wanted 70% of the cash out.

Then friend baled and she didn't know what to do. I told her 'sole trader - keep the company just in case' and that's been that for the last two years. Friend has signed SH01 and all is good.

She doesn't really need the company, but might as well keep it around.

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Replying to thevaliant:
John Toon
By John Toon
03rd Apr 2019 12:29

Seems reasonable

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Replying to johnt27:
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By adam.arca
02nd Apr 2019 09:15

johnt27 wrote:

...the same mistake as many other businesses in assuming that registering a company with their trading name provides some form of IP protection...

I beg to differ. I think that the company does provide a semi-form of IP, or at least trading name, protection.

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Replying to adam.arca:
By ireallyshouldknowthisbut
02nd Apr 2019 09:41

@adam.

I think you are wrong there.

The only trading protection you get is by actively trading with a name. Legal structure is irrelevant, but may occasionally indicate a start date if its a ltd co.

Merely opening a limited company gives no protection at all. Since when does a limited company name have anything much to do with trading names anyhow?

You seem to be confusing "the label on the box" with the trading names of the business.

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Replying to ireallyshouldknowthisbut:
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By adam.arca
02nd Apr 2019 12:24

Like I said, it's a semi form of protection. There may not be a direct legal protection but there is an indirect economic one: most people who are interested in a particular trading name will also be the sort of people who want to trade via a company. If the name they want is taken, they're likely to move onto the next one on the list.

Put it this way (if you'll let me digress): I have a client who retails some fairly specialised stuff (there's only something like half a dozen competitors of his size in the whole country). A few years ago, there was a blatant attempt to rip off both his name and website, an absolutely clear case of passing off. Once it was all sorted out, the first thing the IP lawyers said to him was to form a whole series of dormant companies in all the trading name styles he could think of.

That's a PITA for me as I have half a dozen dormant companies to deal with but the moral of the story for me is that if that advice is good enough for the lawyers, then it's certainly good enough for me.

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Replying to adam.arca:
John Toon
By John Toon
03rd Apr 2019 12:43

Completely agree with your economic argument which is entirely pragmatic.

I have also had experience of some IP squatting. Soletrader business trading under a "brand" name that then wanted to form a company using the same name. When they did their CoHo search that name had already been taken by a competitor who were a few hundred yards down the road!

Company wasn't being used and was dormant. Their trading name wasn't registered IP either. The business had to go through the rigmarole of the legal process (which was a pain and costly). Whereas if they had registered the IP you file a form with Companies House, pay a small fee (smaller than their costs), and they make an adjudication. Unless the cases are complex or tenuous the decisions are prompt and result in the offending party either having to ditch the company or change name.

I've also experienced the flipside with a client who had traded for 60/70 years using the same company name but had never registered their trading name. When they went to register this triggered an almighty response from a major competitor which cost 6 figures in legal and barrister costs. The case hinged on who could provide sufficient historic evidence of use of the name that was in dispute. My client won in the end and were lucky enough to be able to afford the battle.

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Replying to ireallyshouldknowthisbut:
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By FD4CAST FD4CAST
05th Apr 2019 10:29

It does however prevent anyone else registering a new company with the same or very similar name at Companies House.

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By pauld
02nd Apr 2019 11:20

The fastest I have filed a set of accounts is probably less than a second. I pressed a button on my computer and got a reply saying ' the accounts have been accepted by companies house'. Sometimes it can take up to 5 mins to get this message so 5 mins is probably the slowest time it has taken to file. I do not have a watch that measures time in 10ths or 100ths of a second so I cannot be completely sure of the quickest time, but I believe it is somewhere at a second or less.

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By AlanJHaley
05th Apr 2019 21:21

Notwithstanding the electronic filing of today, the fastest set of limited company accounts I prepared were about 20 years ago.
The client (a member's club) brought books in to prepare a VAT return on 1st July (year end 30 June). VAT completed that morning, together with manual set of accounts and sent to client that evening. Client brought them back the following day and they were filed at Companies House on the same day.
Not prepared any other accounts faster !

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