Limited Company Scams involving the Companies House Name

Anyone new to starting a business will never know everything and there are a number of scams currently operating in regards to limited companies, we have listed a few below that involve the use of the Companies House name.
 

Late filing penalty payment

Any company that misses any of their filing dates are liable to a fine, via the information held on the companies house database it is easy to find companies that have not submitted their annual returns or company accounts.
 
Using this information, Companies have been contacted asking for payment of a late filing penalty over the telephone. The caller says they will accept a payment of £5 by credit or debit to place a hold on any further action being taken.
 
Considering that most penalties by Companies House are around £100, this is obviously too good to be true.
 
Companies House will never contact you for an immediate payment of a late filing penalty or request payment of a nominal fee to place a hold on any recovery action.
 
If you have been issued a fine contact Companies House to discuss, payment plans are set up with the agreement of the manager dealing with your late filing penalty query.
 
Companies House never cold call Companies or takes payments over the phone.
 

Bogus Companies House emails

There are a number of suspicious emails are being sent claiming to be from Companies House. These emails have not been generated by Companies House.
 
The latest of these bogus emails claims to be a response to an online filing submission. They will usually have an attachment which it asks you to download.
 
If you have received one of these emails forward it to phishing@companieshouse.gov.uk and then delete it.
 
Do not try to view or download any attachments contained in the email.
 

Company register payment

Companies registered at Companies House are receiving notifications asking for money to maintain their company on the register.
 
The companies concerned are receiving, what looks like a genuine request, from one of the following:

• New Companies Register (Digital)
• National Register of Companies
• Economic Index for Europe

 
These organisations are not connected to, or endorsed by, either Companies House or GOV.UK.
The fee requested is not required to keep the company registered at Companies House. There is no fee to be on the Company House Register, you just need to make sure that you submit your annual return on time and pay the annual return fee only.
 

Companies House telephone scam warning

Companies have been contacted by persons claiming to be from Companies House, who ask them for details of their company’s directors.
 
Companies House personnel will never contact you by telephone to find out who your officers are, or ask for secure information such as authentication codes.
 
If anyone contacts you claiming to be from Companies House asking for this information, try to obtain a return telephone number and contact Companies House immediately on 0303 1234 500.