What is the PROOF Scheme at Companies House?
Due to the increased fraudulent filing at Companies House, Companies House found a way to minimise this fraudulent activity. They brought up the PROOF scheme for business and company owners to help secure their company and its information from fraudsters.
Companies House PROOF (protected online filing) scheme was made by Companies House to prevent identity theft of Limited companies. If a company registers for this scheme, Companies House will not accept certain paper forms from the company and only online changes will be accepted from the company. This online change must be done with the company's authentication code.
The authentication code is given to the company by Companies once you register for WebFiling at the Companies House official website.
How To Register for the PROOF Scheme
Before you register for the PROOF scheme, you must first register for WebFiling at Companies House. To register for WebFiling, go through the steps below
1. Register Your Email
You need to register your email address on the Companies House Website to be able to access the WebFiling service from Companies House.
You have to register your email and a password to keep your account secure. To create a strong password, it should be a mixture of letters both uppercase and lowercase, numbers, and special characters. You must always choose a strong password that cannot be easily accessed by other parties.
If you have registered already and have a hard time recalling your password, you can always request a change of password from the website.
You just need to go to the sign-in page and tap on the 'forget password ' option. With this, a confirmatory code will be sent to your email to be sure you're the one requesting a change. You can then be able to change your password.
Never share your password with others.
2. Request an Authentication Code
After successfully registering your email and password, you can request an authentication code for your company.
First of all, you have to sign in to the WebFiling service which will need the email and password you used in registering for the WebFiling service.
Once you have logged in successfully, you can tap on the 'request an authentication code ' option and then follow all the instructions on the screen. The company's authentication code will be sent to the company's registered address by post and this usually takes approximately five working days to be delivered to the company.
If you have already registered and received a company's authentication code and you misplaced it or have forgotten the code, you can still request a reminder of the code from Companies House. All you have to do is follow the same process as when you were requesting for a new code and the code will also be sent through post to the company's registered address.
If you have already registered for company WebFiling and have your company's authentication code, then you just have to go straight to registering for the PROOF scheme.
Read the complete guide to company authentication codes here.
3. Registering for the PROOF Scheme
After you have signed in on the WebFiling service, you can then navigate to the option that says 'join PROOF' link. Once you've clicked on that option, you just have to follow all the instructions to join the PROOF scheme. Once you have successfully joined the PROOF scheme, Companies House will reject certain paper forms from your company.
Forms That Will be Filed Online
After joining the PROOF scheme, some documents will be rejected in paper forms by Companies House once it is from your company. The following are forms that will be filed online after joining the PROOF scheme.
1. Form AD01
This is the form used when changing the registered office address of the company. When filing this form you must make sure you include the company's authentication code or else it will be rejected by Companies House.
2. NM01
This is the only form filed when changing the name of the company. Since this is very important information about your company, it is protected by Companies House.
3. AP01
For the appointment of new directors, you must fill out this form and submit it to Companies House. Once you have joined the PROOF scheme, you must fill out this form online and not offline.
4. CH01
To change any details of a director, you need to fill out this form to Companies House and as a member of the PROOF scheme, you just have to fill it out electronically and not manually.
5. TM01
If a company wants to remove a director or terminate their appointment as the director of the company, they have to file the TM01 form and since the company is a member of the PROOF scheme, they only have to file it electronically.
NOTE: You should take into consideration that the confirmation statement (form CS01) cannot be filed electronically as it is not covered by the PROOF scheme and you can choose to file it via paper to Companies House.
How Do I Leave The PROOF Scheme?
If you are a registered member of the WebFiling service at Companies House and also a member of the PROOF scheme, you can also choose to leave at any time.
Once you've successfully signed up for the PROOF scheme, instead of the 'join PROOF' option you will only have the 'Leave PROOF' option on your screen. You can tap on the 'Leave PROOF' option anytime if you wish to leave the scheme.
You can also join back anytime you wish to if you have changed your mind.
Can I Still File a Paper From
You can file a paper form anytime even if you're a member of the PROOF scheme. If you're filing a paper form covered by the scheme, then you must include the PR03 form. The PR03 form is a consent form to prove the authenticity of the form you're filing at Companies House.
You can get a content form by contacting Companies House at 0303 1234 5000 to obtain your consent form but you must have a genuine reason for requesting a consent form from Companies House. The reason should be in exceptional circumstances as Companies House do not allow paper filing for companies indeed the PROOF scheme.
If you make a mistake while filing an electronic form, you have to file a paper form to correct the mistake. Even if the company is a member of the PROOF scheme, you can still file a paper report to correct a mistake.
You still need to use a consent form if you make a mistake on a form, you just have to follow the same process as above to get the consent form and proceed with the paper filing.
You can sign up for email reminders for emails. Once you sign up for this service, you will receive email reminders anytime your accounts and confirmation statements are due for a new filing.
To register for this, by clicking on the 'Activate eReminders' link on the company overview page and follow all the instructions to register. You will receive reminders anytime your last filing is about to expire.
Conclusion
It is important to register for WebFiling and also join the PROOF scheme to get access to security for your company's information and reports. With the PROOF scheme, Companies House will secure all your filing and only accept electronic filing and no paper forms will be accepted unless you request a consent form from Companies House and then you can submit paper forms. Do you have any questions about PROOF Scheme at Companies House? If yes, kindly contact one of Incorpuk' experts here.