Almost 3,000 companies deleted from Registry of Companies

Adnan Adams Mohammed The Registrar General’s Department has finally announced that, the first batch of about 2,788 companies have been removed from the Ghana’s Registry of Companies after a year-long vigorous exercise. The exercise which started early last year was aimed at freeing the Companies Register of inactive company names which do not file their annual returns. The affected companies failed to comply with the directive issued by the department to file their annual returns despite a year-long grace period. Last week, the Registrar-General’s Department, in a press statement noted that, the names of these companies which were earlier published on the department’s website and in the national dailies were part of the first batch of over 100,000 defaulting or dormant companies the department had earmarked to struck off the Companies Register as part of its clean-up exercise.These Companies include Companies Limited by Share: 1,374, Companies Limited by Guarantee (Churches, Fun Clubs, Associations, Unions, Schools etc.): 978, External Companies: 41, and Others (Voluntarily owned Companies for delisting): 395. “This exercise was carried out in accordance with Section 289 of the Companies Act 2019 (Act 992) which connotes that a company can be stricken off the Companies Register for failing to file its Annual Returns on time or failing to notify the Registrar of Companies of a change in the Company’s Registered Office and Principal Place of Business,” the statement noted. The Department however urged all defaulting and dormant companies whether in operation or not, whose names do not appear on the first batch of deleted companies to file their annual returns by June 30th, 2022 to avoid being removed from the Companies Register in phase two of the delisting exercise which begins in earnest in February 2022. “Furthermore, Companies and Businesses which are yet to carry out updates of their records with the Department dubbed ‘re-registration’ have from 5th January to 31st December 2022 to update their records with the Department. These over 500,000 Companies Entities and Business Names include those registered between 1960 and 2011,” it added. Any Company official with knowledge of the Company’s non-existence or having no more interest in the Company’s Business Name should write to the Registrar-General indicating such intention, or contact the Department Client Service Line on 055-765-3130 or 030-266-6081 to indicate such intent. It further noted that the penalty for late filing of Annual Returns will be increased from GH¢450.00 to GH¢500.00 after June 30th, 2022. Fees for filing Annual Returns and Beneficial Ownership information remain GH¢50.00 and GH¢60.00 respectively.