Every company shall deliver to the registrar successive annual returns each of which is made up to a date not later than the date which is from time to time the company's "return date", that is—
the anniversary of the company's incorporation, or
if the company's last return delivered in accordance with this Chapter was made up to a different date, the anniversary of that date.
Each return shall—
be in the prescribed form,
contain the information required by or under the following provisions of this Chapter, and
be signed by a director or the secretary of the company;
and it shall be delivered to the registrar within 28 days after the date to which it is made up.
Where a company is guilty of an offence under subsection (3), every director or secretary of the company is similarly liable unless he shows that he took all reasonable steps to avoid the commission or continuation of the offence.
The references in this section to a return being delivered "in accordance with this Chapter" are—
in relation to a return made on or after 1st October 1990, to a return with respect to which all the requirements of subsection (2) are complied with;
in relation to a return made before 1st October 1990, to a return with respect to which the formal and substantive requirements of this Chapter as it then had effect were complied with, whether or not the return was delivered in time.