Annual accounts: three deadlines that are not negotiable
Drawing up, approving and filing. They are three separate acts, with three separate dates, and the last one has a consequence that surprises a lot of small companies.
The set of documents with which a company closes its financial year, which its general meeting approves and which it files at the Registro Mercantil.
Article 34 of the Código de Comercio and article 254 of the Companies Act list them: balance sheet, profit and loss account, statement of changes in equity, cash flow statement and notes. Anyone who can draw up an abridged balance sheet or who applies the PGC for small companies is not required to produce the statement of changes in equity or the cash flow statement (article 257.3 LSC).
The three deadlines
- Drawing up by the directors: within three months of the year-end (article 253 LSC).
- Approval by the general meeting: within the first six months of the following year (article 164 LSC).
- Filing at the Registro Mercantil: within the month after approval (article 279 LSC).
For a year ending 31 December: draw up before 31 March, approve before 30 June, file before 30 July.
The thresholds for the abridged format
An abridged balance sheet and notes (article 257 LSC), meeting two of these three conditions for two consecutive years: total assets ≤ €4,000,000, turnover ≤ €8,000,000, average headcount ≤ 50. An abridged profit and loss account (article 258): €11,400,000, €22,800,000 and 250 employees.
There is a European directive raising these amounts, but as of today it has not been transposed in Spain: the thresholds that apply are still those in the Companies Act in force.
The mistake that comes up most
Not filing “because the company has no activity”. Article 282 LSC closes the company's page at the register: once a year has passed from the year-end without filing, the Registro will not register a single document of that company. Not a change of director, not a power of attorney, not a deed.
Where this carries on in Cairos: Form 200 for Corporation Tax.
Terms that go with this one
Almost no tax concept makes sense on its own. These three are the ones that most often turn up beside it.
Plan General Contable
The rules that set out, in Spain, the accounting recognition and measurement criteria, the annual accounts formats and the chart of accounts.
AccountingJournal entry
The entry that records an economic event in the journal, split between debit and credit accounts for the same amount.
Non-profit bodiesAnnual financial report
The document in which a non-profit body sets out its income and expenditure for the year, identified by category and by project.
This, handled without thinking about it
Cairos keeps the invoices, the record books and Hacienda's forms from the same data, so the theory on this page turns into boxes that are already filled in.
No card and no minimum term.