- Every UK company files a confirmation statement (CS01) at least once a year, even a dormant one.
- It costs £34 online or £62 by post, paid once per 12-month payment period.
- Your deadline is 14 days after your confirmation date (the anniversary of incorporation or your last statement).
- It confirms who and what the company is. It is not the same as your annual accounts.
- There is no automatic fine, but not filing is a criminal offence and the company can be struck off.
Work out your deadline
What a confirmation statement is
A confirmation statement is your annual declaration to Companies House that the public record of your company is correct. You are not sending new figures. You are confirming that the information already held (registered office, directors, shareholders, people with significant control, SIC codes) is still accurate, or filing the changes if it is not.
It replaced the old "annual return" in 2016. Every company on the register must file at least one confirmation statement every 12 months, including a dormant company that has never traded.
The fee and how to file
The Companies House fee for a confirmation statement is:
- £34 if you file online via the Companies House WebFiling or "Find and update company information" service
- £62 if you file the paper form CS01 by post
You pay the fee once in each 12-month "payment period", no matter how many confirmation statements you file in that window. So if your details change mid-year and you file a second statement, there is no extra fee until the next period.
Online filing takes about ten minutes for a single-director company with no changes. You will need your company authentication code, the six-character code Companies House posts to your registered office.
Your deadline and the review period
Your "confirmation date" is the anniversary of either your incorporation or your last confirmation statement. From that date you have 14 days to file.
So the cycle runs like this: a 12-month review period ends on your confirmation date, then a 14-day filing window opens. For a company incorporated on 1 June 2025, the first confirmation date is 31 May 2026, and the statement must be filed by 14 June 2026.
You can file early. Filing resets the 12-month clock from the date you file, which is occasionally useful if you want to align it with your accounts cycle.
What the statement confirms
You are confirming (and correcting where needed):
- Registered office address and any single alternative inspection location
- Directors and company secretary details
- People with Significant Control (PSCs), usually anyone holding more than 25% of shares or voting rights
- Shareholders and a statement of capital (shares issued, classes, amounts paid)
- SIC codes, the standard industrial classification codes describing what the company does
- Registered email address, mandatory since 2024 for all companies
Some of these (a change of director, registered office, or PSC) must also be reported separately at the time they happen. You cannot wait for the confirmation statement. The statement is the annual catch-all check, not a substitute for event-driven filings.
What happens if you miss it
There is no automatic financial penalty for a late confirmation statement, unlike late accounts, which carry fixed penalties. But the consequences are more serious than a fine:
- Failing to file is a criminal offence by the company and its directors
- Companies House can begin the process to strike the company off the register and dissolve it
- If the company is struck off, its assets, including any cash in the bank, can pass to the Crown as bona vacantia
In practice, Companies House sends reminders and gives you time, but a company that ignores them will be dissolved. Filing on time is a ten-minute, £34 job. Recovering a struck-off company is neither quick nor cheap.
Confirmation statement vs annual accounts
These are two separate filings people often confuse:
- Confirmation statement (CS01) confirms who and what the company is. Filed with Companies House. £34. Due 14 days after your confirmation date.
- Annual accounts are the company's financial statements. Filed with Companies House (and a Corporation Tax return with HMRC). Due nine months after your accounting reference date. Late filing carries penalties from £150 to £1,500.
You need to do both, every year, and they usually fall at different times. Modelling both deadlines alongside your take-home plan is exactly the kind of thing Take Home keeps in one view.