Company Office Annual Returns

Every company in New Zealand is maintained in a company register called the New Zealand Companies Office. This register has a list of every single company in NZ (both private and public), and includes the key details of the company; its name, incorporation date, directors, shareholders, founding documents, shareholding changes, etc. This information is available to the public to view, and search.

For example, Air New Zealand Limited (a listed company) details can be found here. This is all publicly available information. 

No financial (or tax) information is recorded or available in the Companies Office (only ownership and administration details and documents). There is no way to view or see how much profit (or loss) a company makes, or what the company is worth.

Physical home addresses are available for the public to view for each director and shareholder. An actual physical address must be used (not a PO Box). Yes, this means that you can search the home addresses of any person who is a director or shareholder of an NZ company.

Registered Company Office

The registered office of the company is the official address for the company. This is what is reported on the Companies Office website (as seen above in the company extract for Air NZ) and where the official records of the company are maintained and administered.

Evans Doyle provides a service to our clients by being the registered office of their company (see more info below).

The registered office is more than the address of the company, it is the official office for your company that maintains statutory company records that are required under the Companies Act 1993. This includes copies of financial statements, minutes of shareholder meetings, director resolutions, share registers, and changes to the company (change of name, shareholders, directors, etc.).

Company Annual Return 

Each year, the Companies Office requires each company to file an annual return. This is separate from Inland Revenue Department (IRD) and the company’s income tax return.

The company annual return is filed with the company’s office and ensures that all the details of the company are up to date, and the information on the company's office register is accurate. The Company Office also charges an annual registration fee.

Evan if a company is non-active with IRD, the company annual return must be filed with the Company's Office. 

What happens if you don’t file the company annual return

If you don’t file the company annual return, the Companies Office will issue warnings, and then take action to remove the company from the register. This effectively makes the company no longer active or alive and has potentially significant consequences.

For example, any assets that the company owns (real estate, bank accounts, property) may be frozen because there is no longer an active company that owns the assets. This means the company will no longer own or have control over its assets.

Reinstating a company is possible, but it is expensive, time-consuming, and can be prevented from filing the annual return each year.

Evans Doyle Company Office Annual Return Service

We provide a service to help you manage your company. This includes:

Becoming the company registered office, and in doing so, maintaining copies of all:

• Financial statements
• Director resolutions
• Shareholder minutes
• Register of directors
• Share register and transactions
• Company constitutions
• Director interests
• Filing the company annual return with the Companies Office Register.