Companies Office to make filing easier
Published:Monday | May 1, 2017 | 12:00 AM
The Companies Office of Jamaica (COJ) is to introduce new forms to simplify the filing of annual returns as part of efforts to increase the number of entities, particularly small businesses, filing annual returns.
At present, one in three companies registered with the COJ has one or more annual returns outstanding. The law mandates the filing of returns each year.
Registrar of Companies Judith Ramlogan has admitted that the length of the form, among other things, makes the process complicated.
She said the COJ has to review the forms to ensure that it is doing its part to make doing business easier in Jamaica.
"The annual returns form might be seen as complex. It's 13 pages long. Not all of the pages are relevant to everybody, and from where I sit, I realise that people just don't like out fill out forms," she said.
Ramlogan added: "One must remember that forming a company is a legal matter, and really what you should do is get professional help, but professional help is expensive. So what do people do? They just say, 'I can't be bothered.'"
But that is about to change, the registrar said.
"We are, at the moment, revising our ordinary returns form and we're also going to be issuing a new form, which is really a 'status quo form'. We will send that form to you. If nothing has changed, you tick it and we accept. We're sure that the compliance rate will improve."
Ramlogan said the office hopes to roll out the new form in the current fiscal year.