How often can a company extend out its annual return date (ARD) and what are the rules on how far it can be extended?

Section 346(4) CA 2014 only permits an annual return date to be changed once every 5 years unless as stated in Section 346(5) the Registrar agrees a change within this period if it arises due to a new parent company taking over the company and the Parent wanting to have the same year end for that company as the group. Note however as per Section 346(3), a company’s ARD date cannot be extended more than 6 months from its existing ARD date. It is also important that the financial statements are made up to a date not more than 9 months from the ARD date as stated in Section 341 CA 2014. The Form B73 is the form used to extend an annual return date. This form must be filed within 28 days of the annual return date as stated in Section 346(2) CA 2014. Where a form B73 is filed then the annual return must be filed with it, however financial statements do not have to be filed.