What are all my charity's filing deadlines, and when do they fall?

England and Wales: This page sets out the position in full. Scotland: the same duty, but the OSCR deadline is a month shorter — a cross-border charity should work to it; see below. Northern Ireland: the same-length deadline, but it runs from a different statute — do not cite the Charities Act 2011 for a Northern Irish charity.

Charity filing deadlines at a glance

A filing deadline is the date by which a document must reach the regulator. Every charity filing deadline but one counts from the financial year end. Once the trustees have fixed that date, the treasurer can date the whole calendar from it. The table shows each filing, who receives it and when it falls due.

If the first period is not worked out yet, work out your financial period and your first-year deadlines before building on it.

A charitable company also cannot simply send the Commission whatever it filed at Companies House. Companies House will accept reduced, filleted accounts from a small company — what it takes is set out where you file with Companies House. The Commission will not, because the Charities SORP applies to every charity preparing accruals accounts, whatever the size of the company. Plan for one full set of accounts, and take care over what gets sent where.

Which deadline carries an automatic fine?

For a charitable company, the Companies House accounts deadline is the one with an automatic fine. It falls a month earlier than the Charity Commission one. Most charity guidance talks about the Commission’s deadline, so that is the one a board diarises. It is the wrong one to protect.

Missing Companies House triggers an automatic penalty on a sliding scale. There is no discretion and nobody to appeal to on the merits. The penalty depends on how late the accounts are:

• up to a month late: £150
• more than a month but not more than three: £375
• more than three months but not more than six: £750
• more than six months: £1,500

File late two years running and the penalty doubles.

Parliament gave the registrar discretion here, but that discretion is limited. It is not a route to having a penalty waived because the charity is small or the treasurer was unwell.

Missing the Commission’s deadline does not cost money directly. It is treated as misconduct or mismanagement. It shows on the public register. If it repeats, it is the sort of thing that builds up into a compliance case. A different sanction, differently unpleasant.

The confirmation statement: a separate Companies House clock

The confirmation statement is a separate Companies House filing, not part of the accounts. It runs on its own clock. That clock is anchored to the company’s incorporation date or the date of its last statement, not to the financial year end.

Both are Companies House filings, so they tend to be treated as one job. Failing to file the statement is a separate criminal offence, not merely a late-filing fee. It carries a fine and the risk of the company being struck off the register.

Put it in the calendar on its own line, on its own date. Do not fold it into the accounts deadlines.

Which deadline applies to a cross-border charity?

In practice, a cross-border charity — one registered in more than one jurisdiction — works to the Scottish deadline. At 9 months, it is the shortest, and meeting it satisfies the others on timing. Its deadlines otherwise fall a month apart.

Do not cite the Charities Act 2011 at a Northern Irish charity. Its duty comes from a different statute. Quoting the wrong one is a reliable way to lose a reader’s confidence.

Adopting the calendar at a board meeting

The board should adopt the calendar at a meeting, minute it, and name who is responsible for each filing. Use one of the meetings you planned when you set your meeting rhythm and quorum.

Add any dates your governing document fixes for itself, found when you mapped your governing document. A new charity’s dates before its first year end sit in the first-year calendar.

A calendar living in the treasurer’s head is not a control. The point is that the charity keeps working when the treasurer is unexpectedly unavailable in December.

You now have every filing on one dated calendar. The next step is to confirm which filings actually apply to you — a small charity may owe fewer of them than the table suggests.

Common mistake: diarising only the Charity Commission deadline

It is the one charity guidance talks about. The Companies House deadline falls a month earlier. It carries an automatic penalty with no discretion. Missing it costs money; missing the Commission’s does not, directly.

Common mistake: treating the confirmation statement as part of the accounts filing

Both are Companies House filings, so they get treated as one job. It is a separate filing on a different clock. That clock is anchored to the incorporation or last-statement anniversary, not the year end.

The sanction is different too. It is a criminal offence, with an unlimited fine in England and Wales (capped only in Scotland and Northern Ireland) and strike-off risk. It is not a scaled late-filing fee.

Worked example

Saltmarsh Trust, a charitable company in England and Wales, has a 31 March year end. Its calendar reads:

• 31 December — accounts to Companies House
• 31 January — annual report, accounts and annual return to the Charity Commission
• its own separate anniversary date — confirmation statement to Companies House
• the corporation tax filing and payment dates, which follow their own logic and come from the work to assess your corporation tax position

Four clocks and three regulators, from a single year end.