A couple of the more common questions about Annual Returns are shown below. For a complete list of FAQs about the Annual Return, click here.

Q. What happens if our charity fails to submit its Annual Return or Update form?

A. The Commission has the most robust regime it has ever had to tackle charities that are not filing their accounts and returns on time. All charities are reminded of their reporting requirements as their filing deadline approaches and if they miss their deadline they receive a default notice. Their Register entry will also indicate that their documents are overdue.

A further series of reminders are sent at intervals during the next six months. These explain that if the overdue documents are not filed, the charity could face removal from the Register. At the end of this six month period, if we have not received the overdue documents, we will either remove the charity from the Register for failing to supply evidence of its continued operation or take further regulatory action.

Q. I have submitted my form online - what do I do about my Trustees' Annual Report (TAR) and accounts?

A. When you login to our Online Services you will be given an option to 'Send us your Trustees' Annual Report and Accounts' electronically. However, in order to do so these documents must be presented in Portable Document Format (PDF). You may have already prepared them in this format. If you haven't, but you have access to a scanner, the scanning software may allow you to save scanned accounts as PDF document. There are also various sources of software available on the internet to convert documents for you, many of them are free.

If you cannot send us your TAR and accounts online as PDFs, they can be posted to us at Charity Commission, PO Box 1329, Liverpool L69 3DY.

• For more information about Part A - Charity information, click here.
• For more information about Part B - Financial information, click here.
• For more information about Part C - Summary information return, click here.

If you still cannot find the answer to your query, please contact us.