Confirmation Statement Filing in West: Keep Your Companies House Record Accurate

A confirmation statement is a filing made at Companies House that confirms the information the register holds about your company is accurate and up to date. It is often called Form CS01. It is not a set of annual accounts and it is not a tax return; it is a confirmation of company information such as your registered office, directors, shareholders, people with significant control and principal business activity. You can either confirm that nothing has changed, or confirm the position while updating the details that need to change.

Most UK limited companies, limited liability partnerships and similar registered entities need to file a confirmation statement, regardless of whether they are trading. That includes active companies, dormant companies and companies that are temporarily not trading, as well as companies run by a single director and shareholder. If your company is registered at Companies House, it is very likely that a confirmation statement is expected. If you are unsure about your specific circumstances, a professional service can review your position and confirm what is required.

A company generally needs to file a confirmation statement at least once every 12 months, measured from the company's confirmation statement date (sometimes called the review period). If your company's information changes during that period, you can file more than one confirmation statement in a review period rather than waiting. The confirmation statement date is separate from your accounting period and from your annual accounts deadline, so it is worth noting the two dates independently.

Before filing, it is worth checking the details Companies House holds, including the registered office address, director and secretary details, shareholder and share capital information, people with significant control, and your principal business activity or SIC code. It is also worth checking the statement date itself is correct. Certain changes, such as appointing a new director or moving the registered office, may need to be reported to Companies House using the relevant separate form rather than simply recorded on the confirmation statement, so it is sensible to deal with those updates as they happen.

Yes, in most cases. Being dormant or not currently trading does not normally remove the requirement to file a confirmation statement. A dormant company still appears on the public register and the information held about it still needs to be confirmed. Filing a confirmation statement is separate from filing annual accounts, and dormant companies also have their own reporting expectations, which is why it helps to keep the two clearly separate in your diary.

They are two different filings with two different purposes. A confirmation statement confirms that the information Companies House holds about your company is accurate and up to date, and it generally needs to be filed at least once every 12 months. Annual (statutory) accounts are the financial statements that report your company's financial position and performance for an accounting period, prepared to the applicable accounting framework and filed at Companies House. Filing one does not satisfy the other, and the deadlines are calculated differently.

No. A confirmation statement is a Companies House filing about company information. A Corporation Tax Return, often referred to as a CT600, is a HMRC filing that reports the company's taxable profits and tax position for an accounting period. They are submitted to different authorities for different reasons, and completing one does not deal with the other. A company may need to file a confirmation statement, annual accounts and a Corporation Tax Return, depending on its circumstances.

Companies House expects the confirmation statement to be filed in line with the company's confirmation statement date, and failing to file can leave the company shown as overdue, with further action possible. Rather than waiting until a problem develops, it is better to review your confirmation statement date well in advance and file promptly, or ask a professional service to manage the filing for you. If you think a filing has been missed, it is worth checking the position and addressing it as soon as possible.

A professional service typically begins by reviewing the information Companies House currently holds about your company and confirming the details with you. You then say what has changed and what has stayed the same, and the confirmation statement is prepared and submitted on your behalf using the correct confirmation statement date. If separate updates are needed on the register, such as changes to directors or your registered office, those can usually be handled alongside the filing. The result is an accurate, timely confirmation statement submission without you having to navigate the Companies House system yourself.

Start by gathering a few basics: your company number and registered name, the confirmation statement date you are working towards, and a note of anything that has changed since the last filing, such as directors, shareholders, your registered office or your principal business activity. From there, a professional service can check the register, confirm the position with you and handle the confirmation statement submission on your behalf. If you would like help keeping your Companies House information in order, get in touch with a team that deals with confirmation statement filing as part of its everyday work.