Confirmation Statement: Your Annual UK Company Filing Guide
The Confirmation Statement — formerly known as the Annual Return — is one of the most straightforward yet most commonly overlooked compliance obligations for UK limited company directors. Filed with Companies House once a year, it confirms that the information held on public record about your company is accurate and up to date. Missing the deadline, even unintentionally, can have consequences far beyond a simple administrative oversight.
What Is a Confirmation Statement?
It's worth being clear about what a Confirmation Statement is — and what it isn't. It is not a financial document. It doesn't replace your annual accounts or your Corporation Tax return. Instead, it's a snapshot of your company's structure at a specific point in time. The information it covers includes:
- Registered office address
- Director and company secretary details
- Shareholder information and share capital structure
- Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code
- Persons with Significant Control (PSC) register
If any of this information has changed during the year — a new shareholder joining, an address update, or a change in director details — those updates should be made before or alongside the Confirmation Statement submission.
When Does It Need to Be Filed?
Your Confirmation Statement is due once every 12 months, calculated from your company's incorporation date. Companies House will send an email reminder, but legal responsibility rests entirely with the director. You have a 14-day grace period after the due date to submit without penalty, but allowing this to lapse entirely can trigger company dissolution proceedings.
"Filing your Confirmation Statement is one of the simplest ways to keep your company in good standing. It takes minutes — but neglecting it can result in your company being struck off the register."
How to File and What It Costs
Filing is done through the Companies House WebFiling portal. Log in with your company's authentication code, review the information on record, confirm it's correct (or update anything that has changed), and pay the annual filing fee. As of 2026, the fee is £34 for online submissions. Paper filing costs £62 and is strongly discouraged.
- Log in to the Companies House WebFiling service using your company authentication code.
- Review each section of your company's registered information carefully.
- Update any details that have changed since your last filing.
- Confirm the statement is accurate, pay the £34 fee, and save your confirmation email.
At Right Formations, we track Confirmation Statement deadlines for all of our clients and manage the submission process on their behalf. You'll never need to remember a filing date or navigate the WebFiling system yourself.