In short
- The first review period runs 12 months from incorporation, and the statement is due 14 days after it ends.
- The fee is £50 online and £110 on paper, paid once in each 12-month payment period.
- Companies House accepts the statement only when every director has verified their identity.
- A missing statement is an offence of the company and its officers and can end in strike-off.
In this guide
What a confirmation statement is and which companies file one
The confirmation statement tells Companies House that the public register shows your company correctly on one day, the confirmation date. It replaced the annual return, form AR01. Every company files it, dormant and non-trading companies included, and every LLP files its own version, form LL CS01. A company with no change in the year still files one.
Section 853A of the Companies Act 2006 sets the duty. The statement confirms that the company has delivered every change it had to report in the period, or delivers it with the statement. A company's first statement also confirms the changes made between the application to register and the incorporation.
The statement is one filing of three. The annual accounts and the Company Tax Return are separate filings with dates of their own. With accounting services for a UK company all three sit in one yearly calendar.
Confirmation statement due date: the review period plus 14 days
The law counts in review periods. The first one runs for 12 months from the day of incorporation. Each later one runs for 12 months from the day after the confirmation date of the last statement. The statement is due before the end of the 14 days after the review period ends.
- Read the date of incorporation, or the confirmation date of the last statement, on the Companies House register.
- The review period ends 12 months later, on the day before the anniversary.
- Add 14 days: that day is the last day to file.
- Pick a confirmation date no later than the end of the review period, and file.
| Company incorporated on 10 November 2025 | Review period | Last day to file |
|---|---|---|
| First statement | 10 November 2025 to 9 November 2026 | 23 November 2026 |
| Second statement, the first filed on time | 10 November 2026 to 9 November 2027 | 23 November 2027 |
| Second statement, the first filed early with the date 1 September 2026 | 2 September 2026 to 1 September 2027 | 15 September 2027 |
You can file before the review period ends, as often as you like. You then pick a new confirmation date, and the next review period starts the day after it. The register shows each company's next statement date and due date, and Companies House sends free email reminders to those who sign up for them.
What the confirmation statement confirms
Before you confirm, you check the register and file any change it lacks. The statement covers:
- The registered office and the address where the company keeps its records
- A registered email address, which Companies House uses to contact the company and does not publish
- The directors and the company secretary
- The people with significant control (PSCs)
- The SIC code, the number that says what the company does
- The statement of capital and the shareholders, if the company has shares
- That the company's intended future activities are lawful
Five items can be changed inside the statement: the SIC code, the statement of capital, the trading status of shares, the exemption from providing PSC information and the shareholder information. Every other change has its own filing and goes in first.
Section 86 requires the registered office to be an appropriate address: post delivered there by hand or by post reaches a person acting for the company, and its delivery can be acknowledged. With company formation in the UK we give the company its UK registered office address, and each statement confirms it.
Directors' identity verification comes before the statement
Since 18 November 2025 the statement carries a Companies House personal code for each director and a tick confirming that each director has verified their identity. Companies House does not accept the statement until all directors have verified. An LLP gives the code of every current member in form LL CS01. Before the statement falls due, Companies House emails the company about the codes it needs.
A director's code goes in once, unless it was already given. A PSC gives the code apart from the statement, in the PSC verification service, and a PSC who is also a director has 14 days from the day after the confirmation date. Every role and its date are in our guide to Companies House identity verification.
We do this for you Accountant for a limited company in the UK accounts, CT600, VAT and payroll
Changes you report between two statements, and their forms
A change in the year goes to Companies House when it happens, online or on a paper form. The statement then confirms a register that is already right.
| Change | Form | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| A director is appointed | AP01 | 14 days |
| A director leaves | TM01 | 14 days |
| A director's details change, such as the address | CH01 | 14 days |
| A PSC is registered | PSC01 | 14 days from confirming the PSC's details |
| A PSC's details or nature of control change | PSC04 | 14 days from confirming the change |
| The registered office moves | AD01 | Takes effect when Companies House registers it |
| New shares are issued | SH01 | 1 month |
A secretary's appointment or departure and a move of the company's records to another address are reported within 14 days too. A new registered office must stay in the part of the UK where the company was registered. The registered email address has a service of its own.
Confirmation statement fee: £50 online or £110 on paper, once a year
The fee is paid with the first statement in each 12-month payment period: £50 online or through software, £110 on paper form CS01. An LLP pays the same. The payment period starts on the date of incorporation and never moves, even when the confirmation date does, and later statements in the same payment period cost nothing.
For the company incorporated on 10 November 2025, the first payment period ends on 9 November 2026. A statement filed on 1 September 2026 pays £50, and another filed on 1 October 2026 pays nothing. A statement filed on 20 November 2026 falls in the second payment period and pays £50.
Filing online needs the company's password and authentication code. A company without them registers for online filing first. The paper form goes by post.
Companies House fees for a company and an LLP
Companies House charges these statutory fees for the filings a small company or LLP makes most often:
| Filing | Online | Software | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Incorporation of a company | £100 | £100 | £124 |
| Same-day incorporation | Not offered | £156 | Not offered |
| Incorporation of an LLP | Not offered | £100 | £124 |
| Confirmation statement, company or LLP | £50 | £50 | £110 |
| Change of name | £20 | £20 | £30 |
| Voluntary strike off | £13 | Not offered | £18 |
| Administrative restoration | Not offered | Not offered | £341 |
Companies House publishes every change of its fees on the same page. Our own fee for keeping the company's filings is in your quote.
A late confirmation statement: the offence, the penalties and strike-off
A statement not delivered within the 14 days is an offence of the company and of every officer in default, under section 853L. In England and Wales the court can impose a fine. While the statement stays missing, it can add a daily default fine of up to the greater of £500 and one tenth of level 4 on the standard scale. The offence lasts until a statement with a confirmation date inside the review period arrives. Companies House guidance names fines of up to £5,000, and Companies House can also issue a financial penalty.
A company that files nothing looks defunct to the registrar. Under section 1000 the registrar writes to ask whether the company is still in business. With no answer in 14 days a second letter follows, and 14 days after that the registrar can publish a notice in the Gazette. Two months after the notice the name can be struck off, and the company is dissolved. The liability of each director and member continues after dissolution.
Administrative restoration of a struck-off company costs £341 and needs a paper CS01 made up to the confirmation date that was due before the strike-off.
With accounting services for a UK company the statement date, the directors' codes and the changes of the year stand in the company's calendar on the Legarithm platform. You approve the statement in your account before it is filed.
