On May 27, 2020, Royal Decree-Law 19/2020 was published establishing new deadlines for submitting the Annual Accounts for the 2019 financial year, as amended by the coronavirus.
As a result of the Covid-19 health crisis, the deadlines for formulating annual accounts were suspended and deadlines for approval are delayed. Royal Decree 8/2020, adopted in March, suspended the period for the formulation of the annual accounts, setting that it would resume for another three months from the end of the State of Alarm.
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When to file annual accounts after coronavirus deferral?
Most Spanish companies had to formulate the annual accounts for the 2019 financial year before March 31,as established by the Law, the annual accounts must be submitted a maximum of three months after the end of the previous financial year.
But, due to the coronavirus, the deadline for formulating annual accounts is extended to three months from the end of the Alarm State,i.e. three months from 21 June 2020. This extension also affects the presentation of the audit of accounts and corporation tax.
In addition, once the annual accounts have been formulated, the companies will have another three months for approval and subsequent registration in the Commercial Register,after convening the General Meeting. This means that at the end of the Alarm State, companies will have three months to formulate the annual accounts. Once formulated, companies must convene the General Meeting to approve the accounts within another three months. And when they are already formulated and approved, the company will have one more month to submit them in the Commercial Register.
In most cases, approval of annual accounts will go until the last quarter of 2020.
The reason for this postponement is no other than that the Government understands that during the State of Alarm it was very difficult to formulate and approvethe annual accounts, and with this postponement it is hoped to facilitate or make it easier to carry out such a procedure.
On the other hand, verification of the annual accounts already published by the companieswas also suspended, up to a maximum of two months after the completion of the Alarm State. And if the meeting of the board had been set before the State of Alarm, companies could modify them 48 hours in advance.
If, on the other hand, there is no date for the holding of the meeting, it should be convened within a maximum period of one month from the end of the State of Alarm.
On the other hand, the Royal Decree states that general meetings may be carried out by videoconference,provided that the real-time connection with image and sound of all present is guaranteed.
conclusion
In short, in view of the difficulties caused by coronavirus, the Government has extended the deadline for submitting the annual accounts of enterprises, having a period of three months to be formulated since the end of the State of Alarm, and another three months for approval at the General Meeting.
