Deadline approaching for filing annual reports with the State Revenue Service (SRS).

The Law on Annual Financial Statements and Consolidated Financial Statements requires all companies to file with the SRS an annual report ‒ approved by the shareholders’ meeting ‒ no later than one month after approval and no later than four months after the end of the reporting year. This means that if a company’s reporting year is the same as the calendar year, the deadline is 30 April. An exception is made for:

  • medium and large companies complying with the criteria set by the Law on Annual Financial Statements and Consolidated Financial Statements; and
  • parent companies of a group which prepares a consolidated annual group report, these must file an annual report and consolidated annual report (if prepared) with the SRS within seven months after the end of a company’s reporting year.

In addition to the annual report and auditor’s statement on the annual report (for companies that meet the criteria listed in the Law on Annual Financial Statements and Consolidated Financial Statements as well as companies whose articles of association or shareholders’ meeting requires the annual report to be reviewed by an auditor), the Commercial Law requires a board proposal to be prepared before approval of the annual report on distribution of profit (or in the case of losses on improving company financial status) and, if the company has a council, a report from the council on the annual report. Moreover, under the Law on Groups of Companies, dependent companies must prepare a statement of dependence to be filed with the Commercial Register, unless a group agreement has been concluded.

The annual meeting of shareholders to approve the annual report must be held no later than the deadline mentioned above. A notice convening the meeting must be sent to shareholders of private limited liability companies at least two weeks before the meeting, while for joint-stock companies the deadline is at least 30 days before the meeting. Along with the notice convening the meeting, the following must be sent to shareholders: the annual report, statement of dependence, auditor’s statement, a report from the council and board proposal. Joint-stock companies need not append these documents to the notice convening the meeting as long as the notice contains information about the place and time where the shareholder may access them at the registered address of the company.

The annual report must be filed only with the SRS, along with explanations on approval of the annual report by the shareholders’ meeting.

The annual report must be signed not only by the board or an authorised member of the board but also by the company’s in-house or outsourced accountant (criteria are listed in the Law on Annual Financial Statements and Consolidated Financial Statements and the co-signing duty of the accountant applies to the financial statements).

Reminder on filing information on beneficial owners with the Latvian Commercial Register

As a reminder, all Latvian companies were due to file information on their beneficial owners with the Latvian Commercial Register no later than 01 March 2018.

By law, a beneficial owner is a natural person who owns more than 25% of the shares or voting rights in a legal entity through direct or indirect shareholding or who controls them directly or indirectly.

Make sure that your company has filed the required information with the Latvian Commercial Register.