Caption: Minister of Legal Affairs Saddam Hosein at the post-cabinet press conference at the Red House on Thursday. AZP News/Prior Beharry
By Alicia Chamely
THE Cabinet has approved an amnesty period for companies to file all outstanding returns documents without penalty.
This was announced by Minister of Legal Affairs Saddam Hosein at Thursday’s post-cabinet press conference held at the Red House, Port of Spain.
He said, “Cabinet has approved a companies’ amnesty for those that may have been affected with respect to filing various post-incorporation documents.”
Hosein said the waiver of penalties for late filing will be published by legal notice from the period Jan 31, 2025, to Sept 15, 2025.
He said, “This amnesty provides an essential opportunity for companies wishing to remain active to fulfil their obligation without incurring late filing penalties under the Companies Act and to provide for those companies that have been struck out due to non-compliance so that they can in fact now be restored on the register.”
Hosein noted that over 87,835 post-incorporation documents, including annual returns, were filed between January 1, 2023, and May 6, 2025.
He said an audit was taken at the Companies Registry and it was discovered that as of May 16, 2025, 27,649 companies were in default of the Companies Act, having failed to submit annual returns for over three years.
Additionally, 46,671 companies, including 18 state enterprises, were struck off the Companies Registry by the Registrar General for the failure to file annual returns.
@azpnews.com Minister of Legal Affairs Saddam Hosein reveals companies amnesty after 47,000 struck out of Companies Registry. Video: Prior Beharry @baratariasanjuanmp @ttgovcomms #amnesty #struckout #companies #registry #legalaffairs
Hosein said during this amnesty period, the Registrar General would not be striking any companies off the registry.
He said it was understood that some companies were having issues with the online system of filing returns.
To remedy this issue, he said the Registrar General’s Department was implementing an over-the-counter filing system, where those wished could manually file their returns.
Hosein said the digitisation of key services at the Registrar General’s Department, particularly the Companies Registry, was in line with some of our country’s obligations to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Global Forum.
He reminded members of the public who were willing to avail themselves for this amnesty and wished to take advantage of the over-the-counter filing system, that they must also have registered for a Companies Registered Account (CRA).
Hosein said this was to facilitate the attachment of physical documents to the digital identity of the applicant and to ensure the Registrar General upholds the integrity of the documents that were filed.
