The Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) has extended the deadline for filing of Annual Returns and Renewals up to September 30, 2023.

“The extension of the deadline is to enable Companies and Businesses in default to complete the processes for filing their Annual Returns and Renewals which they invariably could not complete due to the downtimes experienced by our software application system throughout the period”, a statement from the ORC explained .

It added that the deadline extension applies to Business Names, Companies Limited by Shares, Companies Limited by Guarantee (Churches, Schools, Non-Governmental Organization’s [NGO’s], Civil Society Organization’s [CSO’s], Foundations, Associations, Unions, Societies, Charities etc.), External Companies, Partnerships and Professional Bodies.

The statement pointed out that as of June 30, 2023, Companies and Businesses registered by the Office of the Registrar of Companies since 2011 and those that had complied by filing their Annual Returns and Renewals and in good standing are as follows;

Business Entity	Number Registered	Number in Good Standing	Number Not in Good Standing
Companies Limited by Shares	220,214	46,704	173,510
Companies Limited by Guarantee	71,104	19,074	52,030
External Companies	1,379	438	941
Partnerships	2,883	752	2,131
Business Names(Sole Proprietorships)	721,817	235,481	486,336
Subsidiary  Business Names	6,318	1,293	5,025

The ORC assured that it will commence the process of striking off Businesses and Companies in default from the Register by the end of September 2023. Section 5A (2) of the Registration of Business Names Act, 1962 (Act 151) empowers the Registrar of Companies to remove from the Register any Business Name and Subsidiary Business Name in default for a period of 3 months after the year has ended.

"Kindly note that the ORC would still implement fully for first time section 126(7) of the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992) which spells out the administrative penalty of GHC300.00 (currently GHC12.00 per unit for 25 Penalty Units) to be charged against the Companies and every officer for each day the default continues for non-filing".

The Office therefore urged companies not rest on their oars because of this extension but continue to prepare all the necessary documents to file their Annual Returns on time to avoid paying this Administrative Penalty or push their Companies into a status of not being in good standing.

Business Name Owners (Sole Proprietorships) and Partnerships are also to renew their businesses by using the short code *222# and follow the prompts and make payment on the Ghana.gov.gh platform or visit any of our offices in Accra or the Regions to make these payments at our onsite Fidelity Bank.

It cautioned that under no circumstance should any Company or Business Name Owner make any Mobile Money (Momo) transfer to any ‘Momo’ account in the name of the Office of the Registrar of Companies or Registrar-General’s Department. The Office does not operate or have a ‘Momo’ Account neither has the ORC authorized any person to act on its behalf by Striking off the names of Companies in default. Please be vigilant against Scam calls and text messages demanding such ‘Momo’ transfers.

"Kindly contact us on 055-765-3130(WhatsApp/Telegram) or 0302-666-081/03032-664-692 or any of our social media handles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram @ORC Ghana".