Regulation

As part of some recent research to learn more about our membership, the NFTMO has been tried to establish the legal format of each TMO (e.g. a Registered Society, a Limited Company or a Community Interest Company (CIC)). All of this information is freely available via the sector regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for registered societies and Companies House for Limited Companies and CICs.

In undertaking this research we’ve noticed that there are a number of TMOs where returns haven’t been submitted for some years. By not submitting your annual return you risk being struck off or deregistered. If this happens your company will no longer legally exist and your management agreement with the Council automatically ends as one of the parties no longer exists.

Companies House are usually much quicker off the mark to do this and we’ve seen one TMO being threatened with being struck off for not having submitted their return and accounts for 2022/23.

The FCA generally take much longer to do this but a failure to complete a return in one year may quickly develop into 2 or 3 years and then it can become forgotten about altogether. There are a number of examples where the FCA website shows a return hasn’t been submitted for 4, 5 or even 6 years or more. Don’t let this happen to your TMO!

It is the responsibility of every TMO to ensure that their annual returns are submitted to the appropriate regulator. This remains the case even if you have delegated it to your accountant/auditor. It’s up to you to make sure that they have done so.

If you have received an email from NFTMO advising you that we’ve noticed that your return is late please act now.