The Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) is reminding local businesses to submit their annual confirmation statements before the 30th September 2021 deadline to avoid incurring late filing charges.
Following the new Financial Services (Disclosure and Provision of Information) (JERSEY) Law 2020, coming into effect, this is the first year that companies have been required to submit a confirmation statement; instead of providing an annual return to the Registry, which is operated by the JFSC.
So far this year, the Registry has received less than half of the annual confirmation statements due from local companies that are not administered by Trust Company Businesses (TCBs) or Fund Services Businesses (FSBs). This follows the trend seen in previous years for annual return filings. The Registry is keen to encourage local businesses to act now and also highlight the support available now that Covid restrictions are being lifted.
The JFSC extended this year’s deadline to 30 September to give more time for local businesses to comply with the new reporting obligations and submit their first statement through myRegistry, the new customer platform.
Registrar, Julian Lamb commented: “We are mindful that this is the first time local businesses are using myRegistry, our new customer platform, and submitting their first annual confirmation statement. All confirmation statements are due by the end of September. We do not want Islanders to incur unnecessary and incremental fees for late submissions, or risk breaking the law and potentially being struck off the register.
“We offered the extension as we recognised that Covid restrictions made it difficult for us to offer face-to-face customer support as we normally would and we want to do all we can to help local businesses with our new system and this new annual requirement.”
It is now a legal requirement for companies in Jersey to provide the Registry with details of directors, beneficial owners, controllers and certain other key members of the business. This information must be detailed in the annual confirmation statement.
Local companies that haven’t yet set up their myRegistry account can get support either over the phone, email, via virtual meeting or in person from 31st August when the Registry offices re-open. There are also dedicated support pages with videos and guides on the JFSC’s website.
