Companies Act 1976

4 Penalties for not complying with section 1 within the period allowed for laying and delivering accounts

(1) If in respect of any accounting reference period of a company any of the requirements of subsection (6) or of subsection (7) of section 1 above is not complied with before the end of the period allowed for laying and delivering accounts, then, subject to subsection (2) below, every person who immediately before the end of the last-mentioned period was a director of the company shall, in respect of each of those subsections which is not so complied with, be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding the aggregate of £400 and £40 for each day which falls—

(a) after the end of the period allowed for laying and delivering accounts, and

(b) before the earliest day by which all the requirements of subsection (6) or (as the case may be) of subsection (7) have been complied with.

(2) Where a person is charged with an offence under subsection (1) above in respect of any requirements of subsection (6) or of subsection (7) of section 1 above, it shall be a defence for him to prove that he took all reasonable steps for securing that those requirements would be complied with before the end of the period allowed for laying and delivering accounts.

(3) If, in respect of any accounting reference period of a company, any of the requirements of section 1(7) above is not complied with before the end of the period allowed for laying and delivering accounts, the company shall be liable to a penalty (recoverable in civil proceedings by the Secretary of State) of an amount determined in accordance with subsection (4) below by reference to the length of the period between the end of the first-mentioned period and the earliest day by which all those requirements have been complied with.

(4) The amount of the penalty in subsection (3) above is—

(a) £20 where the period is a period of not more than one month;

(b) £50 where the period is a period of more than one month but not more than three months ;

(c) £100 where the period is a period of more than three months but not more than six months ;

(d) £200 where the period is a period of more than six months but not more than twelve months ; and

(e) £450 where the period is a period of more than twelve months.

(5) For the purposes of any proceedings under this section with respect to any requirement to lay a copy of a document before a company in general meeting, or to deliver a copy of a document to the registrar of companies, it shall not be a defence to prove that the document in question was not in fact prepared as required by subsection (1) or subsection (4) of section 1 above.