Industry is advised that the Registrar of Companies has extended the deadline for entity changes and clarified the penalty in effect for late payment of annual fees.

Entity Changes

Persons have until 31 May to submit late filings, without incurring penalties, for director and officer changes, and for registered offices changes and amended memorandum and articles of association (including increases in share capital). These extensions to file pertain to changes which occurred on or after 1 March 2020. For more information, e-mail cigenreg@gov.ky.

Annual Fee Penalty

Companies and exempted liability partnerships that fail to file their annual returns and/or pay their annual fees by the 30 June deadline will be subject to penalties as of 1 July. The penalty fee in effect will be 33.33% of the annual fees due.
All companies would be subject to the penalty, including limited liability companies and foundation companies. Payment inquiries can be addressed to ciregistry@gov.ky.

General Registry reminders

Persons are reminded that the deadline for beneficial ownership (BO) filings has been further extended to 15 May, with submissions needing to capture the new legal definition for BO. The timing of the filings is in line with the new definition of a beneficial owner in the Companies Law and the Limited Liability Companies Law coming into effect on 15 May. For IT queries regarding the beneficial ownership platform, persons can contact clayton.garwood@gov.ky. For help with CORIS or CAP, email corishelpdesk@gov.ky.

Search reports for directors are now available by writing to ciregistry@gov.ky. The search will be performed by Registry staff and the report emailed to the individual who submitted the request. The usual director report fee of CI$50 will be applicable.

Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) filings, as well as regular filings related to trademark applications and other intellectual property matters, continue with minimal disruption. NPO queries should be sent to grcompliance@gov.ky. IP queries can be sent to Candace.westby@gov.ky or persons can visit the Cayman Islands Intellectual Property Office website.

General Registry staff are working remotely and responding to emails, with regular updates posted to www.ciregistry.gov.ky. If a query is urgent and persons have exhausted the above channels without a response within a reasonable timeframe, then they can proceed to contacting General Registry on 926-8506 during normal office hours (Mondays to Fridays, 9am to 5pm). Please note that while processing times and response rates are not the same as before COVID-19, both have improved in recent days.