Registration is the start of incorporated trustees status, not the end of the paperwork. Here is what CAC expects afterwards.
What changes once the certificate is issued
Once CAC issues the certificate, the organisation can act in its own name. It can hold property, open accounts and sign contracts as itself, not through one trustee.
That status brings duties with it. The certificate is not a one-off prize to file away and forget about.
Telling CAC about a change of trustees or address
Organisations change over time. Trustees retire. New ones join. A congregation or association sometimes moves to new premises.
This article cannot confirm the exact filing CAC expects for every kind of change. Treat any change to trustees, address or the constitution as something CAC's record should reflect. Confirm the current process with CAC or a company secretary, rather than assume the change updates itself or waits until the next annual return to matter.
The annual return window
Incorporated trustees file an annual return between 30 June and 31 December each year, under section 848 of CAMA 2020. It reports the trustees, the council members, any land held, and any change to the constitution that year.
Miss it, and the penalty is ₦10,000, charged against the organisation. See incorporated trustees: CAC annual return and fee for the full detail on that filing, rather than repeating it here.
The separate statement of affairs
Alongside the annual return, incorporated trustees file a bi-annual statement of affairs, 15 July (for January to June) and 15 January (for July to December). It is a distinct filing under CAMA. It is not another name for the annual return.
This one carries its own kind of liability. A daily penalty falls on each trustee personally if it is filed late, not on the organisation as a whole. Incorporated trustees: the statement of affairs covers this filing and its deadlines in full.
Keeping records ready for both filings
Both filings ask for similar information underneath: who the trustees are, what has changed, and the organisation's financial position. Keep records through the year, rather than piecing them together at each deadline.
A treasurer or secretary should own both dates on the compliance calendar. A board that only tracks the annual return is the board most likely to miss the statement of affairs entirely, sometimes for several years running.
Our compliance calendar tool can hold both dates alongside anything else the organisation files each year, such as a licence renewal or a tax deadline. One shared calendar, checked regularly by one named person, beats two important dates living only in two different people's memories.
Browse the CAC registration hub for more on what comes before and after registering incorporated trustees.