Izuchukwu Nwafor, a Lagos State-based lawyer, has narrated how the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), failed to acknowledge and treat a nine-year annual return his firm filed on behalf of a client.
Nwafor told FIJ that his firm made a N91,451 payment to the commission for the filing on December 5, 2023.
“The payment we made was for eight years. It was for the annual returns filing of our client from 2013 to 2021,” Nwafor said.
“Since making the payment, however, the annual returns filing for the company has not been duly acknowledged by the CAC. This also means that our filings or the stated period have also not been treated by the commission.
Some of the Payments Nwafor Made to the CAC
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“Since then, we have been asking the commission for updates but its officials have not been able to provide us with any.”
Nwafor said his firm had sent many emails to the CAC for acknowledgement and the way forward on the filing, but the commission failed to issue a positive response.
“It’s been 10 months since we did the filing in line with the client’s financial year end, but the CAC has refused to acknowledge and act on them,” Nwafor told FIJ.
“We also asked if they could possibly make a refund to us so we can make repayments and reprocess but no one would issue any response to us on that.”
FIJ sent an email to the CAC’s audit unit and help desk unit for a reaction to the lawyer’s accusations on Wednesday. Neither unit responded to the emails at press time.
An annual return is a mandatory requirement that must be complied with by every registered company, business name or incorporated trustee in Nigeria.
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The return is a statutory document that provides a snapshot of the company’s affairs as of the end of its financial year.
Filing annual returns with the CAC enables companies to process and access post-incorporation services.
The majority of contractual bids in the public or private sector also require the filing of an up-to-date yearly report as a major pre-requisite from any bidding company.
More importantly, companies with up-to-date filings with the CAC are deemed trustworthy corporations during due diligence checks by interested parties.
The post CAC Fails to Treat Annual Returns Filed by Lagos Lawyer in 2023 appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.