What is a confirmation statement?

If you are the director of a limited company or the partner of a limited liability partnership, you’ll need to submit an annual confirmation statement. This is simply a record of some key details about your business, including information about your company’s directors and shareholders, as well as your registered business address.

What is a confirmation statement?

Think of a confirmation statement as a snapshot of key information about your company on a given date. It details the company’s directors, any secretaries that have been appointed, the registered office address, shareholder information, and share capital.

It was brought in in 2016 to replace the annual return, which also had to be filed with Companies House every year. The process is much simpler now. Whereas the annual return required you to submit full details about your company every year, the confirmation statement allows you to simply confirm your company’s details are correct should nothing have changed since your last filing.

How do I file a confirmation statement?

Before filing, check your company’s details to ensure they are up-to-date. You can check what details are on file here. If you need to make any changes, you can do that online via the Companies House WebFiling service.

When your information is up-to-date and correct, you can file your confirmation statement with Companies House. To do so, you’ll need your password and authentication code handy.

Not sure what changes you need to make?

You should inform Companies House and update your records if there have been any changes to your:

• directors and secretary
• people with significant control (PSC)
• company’s registered office address

There is certain information you can change while you’re filing your confirmation statement. There is an additional information section for changes to your:

• Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code
• statement of capital
• trading status of shares
• exemption from keeping a PSC register
• shareholder information

When do I need to file my confirmation statement?

Your first confirmation statement is due within 12 months of the incorporation date of your company. After that, you’ll need to file at least one confirmation statement every 12 months, i.e. any time during your company’s ‘review period’. Your review period will begin from the date you filed your last confirmation statement and end 12 months later.

You’ll get a reminder from Companies House when your confirmation statement is due. This will either arrive by email or by post to your company’s registered address. You must file your statement within 14 days of the end of your review period.

How much does it cost to file a confirmation statement?

It costs £13 to file your confirmation statement online and £40 to send a paper form.

Your payment period is separate to your review period. For new companies, the payment period is 12 months from the date of incorporation, and for existing companies, it’s 12 months from the date of the last payment.

You only have to pay the fee for the first confirmation statement you submit in any 12 month payment period. If you need to submit another statement during that period, you won’t need to pay the fee again.

What happens if my confirmation statement is overdue?

Business owners are busy and you might miss a reminder from Companies House. If this happens, you’ll receive a warning from Companies House - don’t ignore this. If you do, you could be prosecuted and the registrar might be forced to take action like striking your company from the register.

In light of this, it’s far easier to stay on top of your confirmation statements and get them filed on time every year.