Latest reports show that 1,579 charities with an income over £250,000 and financial years ending 31 December 2015 still need to file their accounts.

A total of 9,114 charities on the register are in default and are not complying with their legal filing obligations.

Once a charity has submitted its documents to the Charity Commission, they are published on our register of charities and are readily available for all members of the public to view.

Trustees have a legal obligation to submit these documents and the failure to file may be an indicator of wider poor governance issues within the charity.

Failing to file, or filing late, can affect your charity’s reputation as well as jeopardise public trust in charities more generally. The Commission takes failure to file very seriously and will take action where necessary.

Use these top tips from the Commission to avoid making mistakes and falling into default with your accounting and reporting requirements:

1 Know what you need to submit and when. You have 10 months from the end of their financial year to do this and what you need to submit depends on your annual income:

• under £10,000 - income and expenditure figures via the annual return/update;
• £10,001 - £25,000 - annual return form;
• £25,001 and over - annual return, accounts, independent examiners report/audit and TAR; and
• all CIOs - annual return, accounts, (independent examiners report/audit and TAR for incomes over £25,000).

2 The easiest and quickest way to file the annual information is using the online services. This also means that the charity’s profile will be updated overnight.

3 Submission of the information is the collective responsibility of the entire trustee body, not just the treasurer or secretary.

4 You need a password to access the annual return and other online services. All trustees must ensure they know who has the password and that it is handed over if that person leaves, otherwise it can be a time-consuming process to acquire a new one.

5 Ensure your charity’s trustee details are up-to-date before you enter the annual return 2016.

6 Income and expenditure figures must be recorded in whole pounds - not thousands of pounds, and no decimal points.

7The annual return prompts you to tell us if your accounts are ‘qualified’. Many people tick this box without reading what it means. Accounts are marked ‘qualified’ when the independent examiner or auditor has doubts or concerns about some aspects of the accounts. This does not relate to the fitness of the individual scrutinising the accounts.

8 The annual return prompts you to declare if you have a serious incident to report; this can only be done by the trustees. If the trustees are unsure whether to report a serious incident, or they only have a suspicion that something serious has occurred, they should still report it.

9 If you have all the information you need, completing your annual return should only take about 20 minutes - so go online, and file on time.

A video tutorial is available on GOV.UK and there is technical support via a telephone helpline which is open from 9am to midday Monday to Friday on 0300 066 9197. A callback service is also available via GOV.UK.

To send a charity’s annual return, use the online returns service at gov.uk