Limited Company Annual Filing Requirements (2026)

A UK limited company has four core annual filing requirements: a confirmation statement and annual accounts at Companies House, and a Company Tax Return and Corporation Tax payment at HMRC. The confirmation statement is due at least once every 12 months and costs £50 online. Annual accounts are due 9 months after your financial year ends (21 months after registration for the first set). The Company Tax Return is due 12 months after the accounting period, but the tax itself is due after 9 months and 1 day. Companies that register for VAT or as an employer add VAT returns and payroll reports on top.

This guide sets out every yearly filing, the deadlines in one table, what each one contains and the penalties for missing them. Directors are legally responsible for all of them, even when someone else does the filing.

Annual Filing Deadlines at a Glance

The dates for your own company are on its page on the Companies House register: search the company name and look for “Next accounts made up to” and “Next statement date”.

What Is a Confirmation Statement?

The confirmation statement (form CS01) confirms that the information Companies House holds about your company is correct on a given date, the “made up to” date. It covers the registered office, the registered email address, directors and secretary, people with significant control (PSCs), the SIC codes that describe your business, the share capital and, for private companies, shareholder changes.

You must file at least once in every 12-month review period, within 14 days after the period ends. If nothing has changed, you simply confirm the details. If something has changed, such as a new shareholder or a different business activity, some changes are made on the statement itself and others (a new director, for example) need their own filing first.

Since 2024, every statement must also confirm two things:

• A registered email address for Companies House to contact the company. It is not shown on the public register.
• A lawful purpose statement, confirming the company’s intended future activities are lawful.

Since 18 November 2025 the confirmation statement is also where existing directors give their identity verification personal code. If a director has not verified yet, read the confirmation statement verification deadline before you file. Step-by-step instructions are in how to file a confirmation statement.

When Are Annual Accounts Due?

Annual accounts (also called statutory accounts) show the company’s balance sheet and profit and loss for its financial year. A private limited company files them at Companies House:

• First accounts: 21 months after the date of incorporation.
• Every year after: 9 months after the end of the financial year (the “accounting reference date”).

Small companies and micro-entities can send simpler (abridged or micro-entity) accounts to Companies House and usually do not need an audit. Since April 2025 a company is small if it meets two of these: turnover of £15 million or less, £7.5 million or less on its balance sheet, and 50 employees or fewer. A full copy of the accounts still goes to HMRC with the tax return and to the shareholders.

A dormant company, one with no significant transactions in the year, still files accounts, using the simpler dormant company format. Being dormant does not switch the confirmation statement off either.

What Does a Company File With HMRC?

Corporation Tax is separate from Companies House. After you register a company, HMRC sends its Unique Taxpayer Reference (see what a UTR number is), and you must register the company for Corporation Tax within 3 months of starting to do business. Each year:

1. Pay Corporation Tax 9 months and 1 day after the end of the accounting period, if taxable profits are up to £1.5 million. Larger companies pay in instalments.
2. File the Company Tax Return (CT600) 12 months after the end of the accounting period, with the full accounts and tax calculations. You must file even if the company made a loss or has no tax to pay.

The rate depends on profit: 19% for profits of £50,000 or less, 25% above £250,000, with marginal relief in between. An accountant normally prepares the return; CorpAssist does not prepare accounts or tax returns.

Filings That Depend on Your Registrations

• VAT returns. Once the company is VAT registered, it files a VAT return, usually every quarter, through Making Tax Digital software. Registration becomes compulsory when taxable turnover passes £90,000 in any 12-month period. See the VAT registration guide; CorpAssist can register you for £69.99.
• PAYE reports. If the company pays anyone a salary, including a director, it must register as an employer and report each payment to HMRC on or before payday. See PAYE employer registration; CorpAssist can register you for £59.99.
• Event-driven filings. Some filings are due within 14 days of a change rather than once a year: appointing or removing a director, changing the registered office, and PSC changes. See how to appoint or remove a director.

What Are the Penalties for Late Filing?

Companies House charges a private limited company an automatic penalty for late accounts:

The penalty doubles if accounts are late two years in a row. There is no automatic fine for a late confirmation statement, but not filing one is an offence, and Companies House can start striking the company off the register.

HMRC charges £200 for a Company Tax Return filed 1 day late, another £200 at 3 months, then a tax-based penalty of 10% of the unpaid tax at 6 months and another 10% at 12 months. If the return is late three times in a row, the £200 penalties rise to £1,000 each. Interest runs on late Corporation Tax.

Penalty appeals rarely succeed on grounds such as “these were our first accounts” or “our accountant forgot”. Put the dates in your calendar the day the company is formed; our checklist for after registering a company covers this.

How to Stay on Top of Your Filings

1. Note your accounting reference date and confirmation statement date from the register when the company is formed.
2. Sign up for email reminders in your Companies House account.
3. Keep the registered email address current, because that is where Companies House now sends notices.
4. Make sure every director has verified their identity before the next confirmation statement.
5. Use an accountant for accounts and the tax return, and a filing service for Companies House forms if you prefer not to file yourself.

Guides to Each Filing and Registration

How to handle each one, step by step:

• How to file a confirmation statement: what it confirms, the £50 fee and director personal codes
• Appoint or remove a director: AP01 and TM01 within 14 days
• Change a company name: special resolution, fees and what to update
• VAT registration: the £90,000 threshold and what HMRC asks
• PAYE employer registration: when to register before your first payday
• What does a company director do?: your legal duties as a director
• UTR number: your company’s tax reference from HMRC

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources: annual accounts on GOV.UK and Company Tax Returns on GOV.UK.

Fees, deadlines and penalties checked against GOV.UK on 30 October 2026. CorpAssist is an independent commercial service and is not Companies House, HMRC or GOV.UK. It does not prepare accounts or tax returns.