Confirmation Statement Filing in Eastbourne – Keep Your Companies House Record Accurate

A confirmation statement is a filing made at Companies House to confirm that the information held about your company is accurate and up to date. It is sometimes called a CS01 or an annual confirmation statement. It is not a financial document and it does not report profit, loss or tax — instead, it confirms details such as your registered office, directors, shareholders, share capital and people with significant control. If something on the record has changed, the change often needs to be reported separately, with the confirmation statement confirming the position as at the confirmation date.

If you run a company registered at Companies House, you will normally need to file a confirmation statement, whether the company is based in Eastbourne or anywhere else in the UK. That includes companies that are actively trading, companies that are dormant, and companies that are simply not trading at the moment. The requirement is attached to having a company on the register rather than to how much business you are doing, so a quiet or dormant company should not assume it is exempt. If you are unsure about your own position, it is worth checking your company's filing history at Companies House.

UK companies generally need to file a confirmation statement at least once every 12 months, calculated from the date of the previous statement. This is separate from your accounting period and separate from your annual accounts deadline, so it is possible for your confirmation statement and your accounts to fall due at different times. If your company information changes during a review period, you can choose to file more than one confirmation statement within that period rather than waiting until the end of it.

Before filing, it is worth reviewing the details Companies House already holds: the registered office address, the company name, director and secretary details, shareholder information, share capital and the people with significant control. It is also a sensible moment to check your SIC code and principal activity still reflect what the company actually does. Anything that looks wrong or out of date should be corrected, and certain changes need to be reported to Companies House separately rather than simply noted on the confirmation statement.

Yes, in most cases. A dormant company still has a place on the Companies House register, and the confirmation statement is there to confirm that the register is accurate rather than to report trading activity. Dormancy affects what you report for tax and accounting purposes, but it does not normally switch off the confirmation statement requirement. If your company has been dormant for some time and you are not sure whether your record is up to date, a review before filing is a good idea.

No, they are two different filings with two different purposes. A confirmation statement confirms that the information Companies House holds about your company is correct, while annual accounts set out the company's financial position and performance for an accounting period. They may be filed at different times, they are prepared in different ways, and a confirmation statement is not a substitute for statutory accounts. A confirmation statement service and an accounts service are complementary, not interchangeable.

A confirmation statement is filed at Companies House and deals with company information on the public register. A Corporation Tax Return, often referred to as a CT600, is filed with HMRC and deals with the company's taxable profits and tax position. They are separate submissions to separate bodies, with separate deadlines. Completing and filing a confirmation statement does not settle any Corporation Tax obligation, and it does not mean every other Companies House or tax filing has been dealt with.

If a confirmation statement is not filed, Companies House will not have confirmation that its record for your company is accurate, and the company can be treated as being in default. Companies House may take action against the company, which can ultimately include steps towards striking it off the register, and the directors may face consequences as a result. The exact position depends on the circumstances and how long the filing remains outstanding, so if you have missed a statement it is best to address it as soon as you reasonably can.

With a professional service, you share the current details for your company — directors, shareholders, registered office, PSC information and anything else relevant — and the filing is prepared and submitted on your behalf. A good service will check the details against what Companies House holds, point out anything that looks inconsistent, and tell you whether a change needs a separate notification rather than just being confirmed on the statement. You receive confirmation once the submission has been made, so you have a clear record of what was filed and when.

Getting started is straightforward: gather your company details, including your Companies House authentication code, and let us know when your confirmation statement is due and whether anything has changed since the last one. From there, the details can be reviewed, any required updates can be handled, and the confirmation statement can be prepared and submitted. If you would rather have the whole process managed for you on an ongoing basis, that can be arranged too, so future filings do not creep up on you unexpectedly.