Rwanda Development Board (RDB) has extended the deadline for filing annual returns and annual accounts due to COVID-19 pandemic. Due to lockdown and measures put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19, companies that have been unable to meet the deadline to submit returns and accounts have been given three more months, until July 31st, 2020. The extension was made to facilitate businesses that have been affected by the pandemic and lockdown. Initial deadline Under the law governing companies in Rwanda, every company has an accounting reference date. In principle, the company is free to decide any date as its accounting reference date provided that it has such a date in each calendar year. From the accounting reference date, a public company has four months to file its annual returns and accounts with the Registrar General from RDB while for a private company it is seven months. In practice, according to the Registrar General of RDB, Richard Kayibanda, most companies choose the 31st December. This means that, as per company law, the public companies that have 31st December as their accounting reference date are supposed to file their annual returns and annual accounts by April 30. Annual returns are yearly statement filed with the Registrar General which contains the information about the company including its shareholding, company address, management (directors), capital structure and financial statements. It is basically about the company’s information in one year which is meant to ensure any change that might have occurred within the company. The annual accounts are part of annual returns. A company may not have any changes in a given accounting period in respect to management, shareholding, but it has annual accounts. Therefore, this company is required by law to file an annual account. Kayibanda says a number of companies have not yet filed, which prompted the extension. Rwanda has been under lockdown for over a month and numerous companies have been affected. A cabinet meeting on Thursday decided that effective next week on Monday, May 4, the lockdown would be lifted partially with a raft of directives that have been set up to maintain social distancing and other measures in place avert the spread.
