How to File a Confirmation Statement (2026 Guide)

To file a confirmation statement, check your company’s details on the Companies House register, update anything that has changed, give each director’s personal code, then file online and pay the £50 fee within 14 days of the end of your review period. Every UK company must do this at least once a year, even if it is dormant and even if nothing has changed. This guide explains what the statement confirms, when it is due, the new identity verification step and how to file it, step by step.

What Is a Confirmation Statement?

A confirmation statement (form CS01, formerly the annual return) is a yearly filing in which the company confirms that the information Companies House holds about it is up to date. It does not contain any financial information. It covers who runs and owns the company and a few other details:

• Officers: directors and company secretary. Changes must be filed separately before the statement.
• People with significant control (PSCs): anyone with more than 25% of shares or votes, or significant control by other means.
• Registered office address and registered email address. The email address is required and is not shown on the public register.
• SIC codes describing what the company does.
• Statement of capital and shareholder information, if the shares or shareholders have changed.
• A lawful purpose statement: since March 2024, every statement confirms that the company’s intended future activities are lawful.

When Is the Confirmation Statement Due?

Each company has a review period of up to 12 months. For the first statement it ends 12 months after the date of incorporation; after that, it ends 12 months after the confirmation date on your last statement. You can file up to 14 days after the review period ends.

For example, a company incorporated on 10 March 2026 has a review period ending on 9 March 2027 and must file by 23 March 2027. You can find your exact date on your company’s page on the Companies House register, and Companies House can email you a reminder.

You can also file early. If you do, you choose a new confirmation date, and your next review period starts the day after it. Filing early does not save the fee: the £50 is charged once in each 12-month payment period, which runs from the date of incorporation and cannot be changed.

The New Identity Verification Step

Since 18 November 2025, the confirmation statement is also where existing directors prove they have verified their identity. For each director you give their 11-character Companies House personal code and tick a statement that they have verified. Companies House will not accept the statement until every director has verified.

For most existing directors, the company’s first confirmation statement after 18 November 2025 is their verification deadline. PSCs have their own timetable. Both are explained in our guide to the confirmation statement and ID verification deadline. If a director has not verified yet, do that first: through CorpAssist it costs £35.99 per person with our director identity verification service.

How to File a Confirmation Statement: Step by Step

1. Find your filing date. Look up your company on the Companies House register and note the date the next statement is due.
2. Check every director has a personal code. Collect each director’s code. Anyone who has not verified must do so before you can file.
3. Review the register. Check directors, secretary, PSCs, registered office and registered email address against reality.
4. File changes that must come first. Changes to directors, the secretary, PSCs, the registered office or the registered email address are filed separately before the statement, for example an appointment or removal of a director.
5. Sign in to Companies House online. You need the company’s authentication code, the 6-character code Companies House posts to the registered office.
6. Confirm or update the additional information. SIC codes, statement of capital, trading status of shares, PSC exemption and shareholder information can be updated within the statement itself.
7. Give the directors’ personal codes and tick the verification statement.
8. Confirm the lawful purpose statement and the registered email address.
9. Pay the £50 fee by card or from a Companies House account, and submit.
10. Keep the confirmation. Companies House emails an acceptance once the statement is registered. Your next review period starts the day after your confirmation date.

What Happens If You Do Not File?

Not filing the confirmation statement is an offence by the company and its officers. Companies House says the company can be fined up to £5,000 and may be struck off the register. If a company is struck off, it is dissolved, its bank account is frozen and its assets can pass to the Crown. Restoring it later costs far more time and money than filing on time.

A missing confirmation statement also shows on the public register as overdue, which customers, banks and lenders notice. If you are late now, file as soon as possible.

Common Confirmation Statement Mistakes

• Leaving it to the last day and then finding a director has not verified their identity. Verification can take days, so check personal codes first.
• Confirming out-of-date information. If a director has left or a shareholder has sold shares, the register is wrong until you file the change.
• Forgetting the shareholder list after shares have been transferred or issued.
• Losing the authentication code. A replacement is posted to the registered office, which takes time. If your registered office is an address service, make sure post reaches you.
• Mixing it up with accounts. Filing the confirmation statement does not file your accounts or tax return. See the full list of annual filing requirements.

Do It Yourself or Use CorpAssist?

A director with a simple company, up-to-date register and verified directors can file in a few minutes. The time goes into the parts around it: tracking down personal codes, spotting changes that have to be filed first, and fixing a rejected statement close to the deadline.

With CorpAssist you answer one online form, we prepare the statement from your company’s current register details and the changes you tell us about, check every director’s and PSC’s verification status, and file it through our Companies House-registered ACSP partner. The price is £89.99 in total, including the £50 Companies House fee. Filed within 1 business day of a complete order.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official guidance: Filing your company’s confirmation statement (GOV.UK). Related: what to do after registering a company and what a company director does.

Fees and rules checked against GOV.UK on 30 October 2026. CorpAssist is an independent commercial service and is not Companies House or GOV.UK.