What is CAC Annual return? You might have been hearing from corporate consultants about cac annual returns, and keep wondering what is Cac  annual return? well an Annual return in the context of corporate  compliance is simply a yearly monetary payment filed by every registered business name, limited liability company or NGO in Nigeria within a specific calendar year to the corporate affairs commission. it is a statutory procedure taken by every registered business name, company or incorporated trustee. it serves as a reminder and an evidence to the commission that the business, company or NGO is still in operation, with all the information such as the profiles of directors, proprietors or trustees sent to the commission at the period of registration still the same. if there is any change in the management of the company,or change in the address of the company, or change in the objectives of the company or NGO, the commission expects the registered business to first file for an annual return for that year before it can make those changes.

An annual return is filed within the cac calender year,accordingly cac calendar year for annual return ends on 30th June of every year. the timeline for annual return for registered business name is filed within 18months of the incorporation of the business,subsequently each annual return is expected to be filed within the specific calendar year, the annual return is expected to be filed within 42 days after the Annual general Meeting.

for Incorporated trustees such as foundation,Club,Church,Association,Organisations ,Annual Returns for incorporated trustees should be filed between 30th June and 31st December for the preceding financial year. NOTE: Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 Section 862. we can see that this is a clear departure from the practice obtainable for limited liability companies and business names.

HOW TO FILE AN ANNUAL RETURN WITH CAC ONLINE IN 2022 & 2023; i shall be providing you a guideline /procedure to file your annual return for business name or limited liability company in Nigeria

a. Go to https://post.cac.gov.ng/

b. create an account as a user not as an accredited agent

c.select the category of company, it could be business name,limited or NGO.

D. select annual returns 

e. fill the information of the company and pay

f.download the online receipt and approved cac annual returns , when the commission approves it.

The corporate Affairs commission made series of changes, since the passage and signing of the CAMA 2020 to an Act. if you cannot follow the above steps simply follow the alternative step.

1.Go to cac agent and ask for cac annual return form for business name,limited liability company or IT,you don”t need all of them,you only need the one concerning your business (you can contact us for this form)

2.Fill your Form and Return it to cac agent for assessment.

3.Pay the request fees for your annual return for the year.

4.CAC Agent Returns the annual return forms to cac approved by cac to you .

5. Store the approved annual return forms for the year, this is necessary in the event you need to file for changes in the future.

FILING ANNUAL RETURNS FOR COMPANY(LLC AND LLP/LP).

1.To file an annual returns for limited liability company, you need to find an accredited cac agent, the accredited cac agent takes the name of the company, the cac agent ,logs in to his portal, and in puts the name on the search bar, the name will now pop up ,the accredited cac agent will navigate to annual return, and begin to fill the online forms for your company , the entire procedure for annual return for company,whether small company or companies other than small companies are kickstarted online through an accredited cac agent portal. the cac agent will ask for information regarding the names,residential address,email address,share holdings of share holders,personal details of directors and secretary,personal details of persons with significant control of the company,please contact us for assitance.

OR in the alternative

2.Obtain cac annual returns forms for limited liability company,fill it and make sure all the directors still in the management of the company signs where necessary.

3.Attach and return the filled annual returns forms to the commission through an accredited cac agent.the cac agent will compute the fees involved and ask you to pay ,the cac agent will now begin to file for you.

4. Upon submission of the filing, the commission takes time to review your information and the status of the company.

5.Then the commission takes a decision as to whether you have complied on the annual return for the year, where you have complied, they issue you a letter of acknowledgment, please make sure you collect this letter of acknowledgment and keep for reference purpose, the letter bears the year and the receipt number from the commission.

6.The cac Accredited agent uploads the letter of acknowledgement and awaits for the commission to reactivate your inactive status on the search bar. The duration for approval of annual return takes 3-5 days or less from the commission.

7. collect your approved returns forms after the commission has approved the payment and keep for reference purpose.

this procedure can be used to file annual returns for both small company or big company annual returns.

How To File ANNUAL RETURNS With CAC ONLINE IN 2023.

Well, in 2022 filing annual returns with the Corporate Affairs Commission is now faster and easier, when compared to the previous years. it is important to note with this new method, you can file your previous years annual return,like cac annual returns of 2021, cac annual returns of 2020, cac annual returns of 2019 e.t.c ,it is advised to follow the earlier provided steps or contact us.

HOW TO CALCULATE CAC ANNUAL RETURNS FOR BUSINESS NAME :

First you need to know the official fees of cac annual returns for business name, the official fee is N3,000 .

Under CAMA 2020, The Corporate affairs commission only allows Limited company to enjoy 18 months from the date of incorporation from filing annual returns, so Business name and incorporated trustees must file their annual return from a year after incorporation.

Note therefore that failure to file annual return within cac calendar year will attract penalty, the penalty fee is N5000 per year, the official fee for annual returns for both limited company and incorporated trustee is N5000,while default fee is also N5000.

REQUIREMENT FOR FILING ANNUAL RETURNS- in filing an annual returns for a business name, you are expected to provide the following information to your agent: Proprietors Full name and Address, Proprietors Phone number, Email address, date of birth and the identity card ,the business address, residential address and nature of business, et.c.

CAC REQUIREMENT FOR ANNUAL RETURN FOR INCORPORATED TRUSTEES SUCH AS CHURCH,FOUNDATION,CLUB ETC.

The corporate affairs commission requires, every incorporated trustee, such as club, foundation,mosque,church, and every non-governmental organization to file her annual return each year, between 31st June to 31st December

In doing this, the trusees information such as date of birth,identity card,residential address and national identification number shall be required.

Also the incorporated trustee shall forward their audited account for the year, they are filing the return.

Penalty for late filing of annual return for incorporated trustee: The penalty for late filing of incorporated trustee is N10,000 and the official yearly fee is N5000, total fee for the year when an incorporated trustee default is N15,000.

BENEFITS OF FILING CAC ANNUAL RETURNS- A timeous filing of cac annual returns, has alot of benefits, for your business, company or incorporated trustee, a timely filing of cac annual returns ,helps your company/business or registered organization avoid payment of penalty, accumulation of penalty can lead to much expenses when you finally decide to comply.

it is important to file your cac annual returns on time, to avoid having your company in the list of businesses, the commission have de-registered, Also note that failure to file annual return will force cac to put your business or company as INACTIVE On the cac public search .

The reason why your company or business name status is INACTIVE on the cac search result is because of non-compliance with annual return.

A timely filing of annual returns helps the commission to know that the business /company registered is still active, and every other information supplied to the commission is still valid

Filing of annual returns timely helps you have an updated annual return record, this will help you in any event your company decides to make any post incorporation changes.

FILE ANNUAL RETURNS FOR INCORPORATED TRUSTEES,IS IT NECESSARY?

Most times people ask questions whether an incorporated trustee, suppose to file an annual return? the reason for such question is that since incorporated trustees are not primarily set up for trading and profit making, they are supposed to be under the exceptions?

Under the CAMA 2004,Section 607 it provided that “The trustees of the corporation shall not later than 30^th June or later than 31^st day of December each year(other than the year in which it is incorporated),submit to the commission a return showing, among other things, the name of the corporation, the name ,address AND  occupations of the trustees, and members of the council or governing body, particulars of any land held by the corporate body during the year, and of any changes which have taken place in the constitution of the association during the preceding year.

it is glaring what the position of the law is, for annual returns for incorporated trustees.

It is hereby advised that the deadline for payment of annual returns for 2022 ends on June 30th 2023,within this period January 1st – 30th June 2023, you are within cac calendar year for annual return filing, so cac will not bill you for default for 2022 annual return filing, but you will be in default of 2021, and other past years.

So, business names and company that wishes to file for 2022 annual return and fail to file before June 30th, 2023, will be in default for 2022 annual return filing. 

PENALTY FOR LATE FILING OF ANNUAL RETURNS FOR A PARTICULAR YEAR.

The corporate affairs commission has a calendar year, accordingly late filing of annual return within a calendar year attracts penalty.