Companies and the Budget - Surprise surprise

Ok, so please tell me, in all the media hype about the government helping small businesses, how it was not mentioned that various company rules have changed - such as it is now only 9 months in which to file your previous accounts, and if they are late, the fine has 'stretched' from £100 to £375. I am not sure what this amounts to as a percentage, but in the days of the deepest recession (during my lifetime), this seems excessive.

Having read through the 2009 Budget Press Notice, I cannot see anything that tells me as a company director, that the fees have been increased and the time frame for filing shortened. As far as I am aware, we have not received any mail to notify us of this change either.

How do I know this then? Well, unfortunately our company accounts were accidently sent to the wrong place (to the tax office, along with the tax cheque) albeit on time. We recently received a Companies House letter to remind us we have not filed our accounts - you can imagine our surprise. So a phone call or two later, we discover what has happened - and the cost for this mistake would be £375. If we did not file accounts soon, it would then be £750!

If you would like to check out the previous rates against the current rates, it is almost impossible to find - other than previously published pdfs such as this one by Macintyre Hudson, Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers. Looking at the increase in late filing fees, it must be really quite difficult to justify this in a time when a lot of small businesses are really struggling to keep afloat. Maybe this is why it has been neatly hidden?

The time frame in which to file your accounts has also changed and again it is not clear, especially on the Companies House website which states a time frame of 10 months quite clearly for subsequent accounts. It is only through a thorough search that I was able to find any evidence to the contrary to tie in with what we were informed by a Companies House employee. This was via Legal Clarity and to be fair to their name, it is quite clear, the time frame for subsequent accounts is now 9 months.

Ok, so if they have reduced the time frame for filing accounts, and increased the amount by more than double for over 1 month late filing, what message is this giving small businesses? We can give you help with this hand, but if you are not really observant, we can take it away again with the other? How many other things have been hidden? If I am mistaken, please let me know, but this really does smack of underhandedness and greed.

The following links clarify other points more commonly discussed - I am just surprised that the fees and the reduction in filing time has not been mentioned in even these discussions. Surprise, surprise.

SmallBizPod
This is Money
Federation of Small Businesses
Bytestart.co.uk