How do overseas directors get caught out by late UK filing penalties?

Statutory reminders and HMRC notices arrive by post at the registered office; if that address is not properly monitored, the first the director hears of a deadline is a penalty notice. Companies House late filing penalties start at £150 and rise with lateness and repeated offences, doubling for consecutive late years.

Time zones and travel also matter in practice: a director travelling or working across several countries can lose track of a UK deadline that does not align with any local tax year they are used to.

A registered office and accountant that actively track deadlines and send proactive reminders well ahead of the date remove most of the risk, rather than relying on the director to remember dates in a foreign tax calendar. Setting calendar reminders a month before each deadline, not on the day, gives time for currency transfers and signatures to clear.

Appeals against penalties succeed rarely and only for genuine reasonable excuse; being abroad or unaware of the deadline is specifically not accepted as a reasonable excuse by HMRC or Companies House.

Our fixed monthly packages for a UK limited company start at £89 plus VAT and run to £169 and £289 plus VAT as bookkeeping, VAT, payroll and reporting are added. One-off filings are sold at fixed prices, and the Companies House fees we pay for you are charged at cost with no VAT added. Overseas owners are quoted on exactly the same published prices as UK-resident clients.

Rates, thresholds and deadlines here reflect the 2026/27 UK position and current Companies House and HMRC guidance. Check GOV.UK, or ask us, before relying on them for your own company.