What the charge is

Authorised firms submit regulatory returns through the FCA's RegData system on a schedule set for each firm. Submit one late and a £250 administrative fee is applied. There is no grace period, no reminder letter first, and no distinction between a firm that submitted a day late and one that submitted three months late.

It is charged per late return, so a firm that misses two returns in the same year pays it twice.

Why small firms end up paying it

Almost never through indifference. In practice the causes are mundane and repetitive:

  • Nobody registered on RegData. The firm is authorised, nothing appears to require attention, and the system that shows the deadline was never set up.
  • The FCA's email went to the wrong address — a departed employee, an accountant's mailbox, or a spam folder.
  • The accounting reference date changed. Change your year end at Companies House and your FCA reporting deadline moves with it. Very few people connect the two.
  • It was assumed to be the accountant's job. Regulatory returns are not statutory accounts, and most accountants do not file them.
  • Nothing to report. A firm that arranged no finance all year assumes there is nothing to file. The return is still required.

The pattern behind all of these is the same: the deadline is knowable a year in advance, and nobody wrote it down anywhere they would see it. That is a diary problem, not a compliance problem.

The bigger risk behind the £250

The fee itself is an annoyance. The real exposure is what sits behind it: a firm that stops reporting is a firm the FCA cannot supervise, and persistent failure to submit returns can lead to authorisation being cancelled. Losing your permission means losing the ability to offer finance to customers, which for most firms is worth considerably more than £250 a year.

How to make sure it never happens

  1. Register on RegData the week you are authorised. Not when the first deadline approaches.
  2. Use an address that outlives individuals — a role-based mailbox rather than a personal one, checked by someone.
  3. Put the date in the same calendar as your VAT and Companies House deadlines. A regulatory deadline kept somewhere separate is a deadline waiting to be missed.
  4. Re-check the date if you change your year end. This one catches out firms that have been compliant for years.
  5. File a nil return if there is nothing to report. It takes minutes and costs nothing.

Our guide to the CCR007 annual return covers what the return actually asks for, and ongoing obligations after authorisation sets out everything else that follows once you hold a permission.