The CIC34 report explained: what a community interest company report must contain

Short version. The CIC34 is the annual community interest company report. Every CIC files one with its accounts at Companies House. It describes what the company did for the community, whether it consulted its stakeholders, what the directors were paid and whether any assets left the company for less than full value. It is signed by a director and goes on the public record. There is a simplified version and a detailed version.

What the CIC34 report is

A community interest company is an ordinary limited company with an extra promise: it exists to benefit a community, and its assets are locked to that purpose. The CIC Regulator checks that promise once a year through the CIC34 report. The regulator's guidance says the accounting requirements for a CIC are the same as for an ordinary limited company. The report is the one extra document.

What it must contain

The form has numbered parts. Companies House checks these when it accepts the report:

• Company name, company number and the period the report covers.
• Part 1: general description of the company's activities and impact. What the company did and how the community benefited.
• Part 2: consultation with stakeholders. Whether a consultation was held, and if so who was consulted, how, and what changed as a result.
• Part 3: directors' remuneration. Whether the directors received remuneration, and the details of it. The regulator expects the fullest information you can give.
• Part 4: transfers of assets other than for full consideration. Whether any asset was transferred for less than its full value, and the details if so.
• Detailed report only: whether dividends were declared or proposed for the year (a dividend declared in any of the four preceding years brings the company into the detailed report too), whether interest was paid at a performance-related rate, and the cap information for any dividend or any debt or debenture on which a performance-related rate was payable.
• The signing director's name and the date signed.

Nothing in the report changes the accounts or the Corporation Tax return. The regulator reviews what the directors say. No filing tool does that for them.

Who signs it and when it is due

A director signs the report on behalf of the board. It is filed with the accounts, so the accounts deadline applies: normally nine months after the accounting period ends for a private company. If the accounts are late, the report is late too.

How it is filed

Companies House does not accept a CIC's accounts through the software filing gateway (its rule 2422). Instead the company uploads a package: the accounts and the CIC34 report together, in iXBRL, as a ZIP file, through the Companies House CIC accounts service. The company signs in, enters its authentication code, uploads the ZIP and pays £15 by card. SimpleCompanyTax builds that package from your answers. See how to file your CIC accounts and CIC34 report.

Sources

This article is general guidance, not legal advice. The sources are the form CIC34 publication, the CIC regulator's guidance and the Companies House Technical Interface Specification for Accounts (version 5.9).