The Confirmation Statement (CS01): What It Is and When It's Due

A confirmation statement is not a tax return and does not go to HMRC — it is a filing made to Companies House confirming that the core information held on the public register about your company is still correct. Every UK limited company must file one at least once every 12 months, even a dormant company with no trading activity.

What the confirmation statement confirms

• The registered office address.
• Details of directors and, where relevant, the company secretary.
• The company's Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes describing its trade.
• Statement of capital and details of shareholders, where these have changed.
• People with Significant Control (PSC) information.

If none of this information has changed since your last statement, you simply confirm that fact — you are not required to re-enter everything from scratch each time.

Deadlines and fees

Each confirmation statement covers a 12-month review period. You have 14 days after the end of that period to file, so in practice the effective deadline is your review period end date plus two weeks. There is a filing fee, payable once per 12-month period even if you update the statement more than once during that period — filing online is normally cheaper than filing by paper.

Why it is easy to overlook

Because the confirmation statement is a Companies House filing rather than an HMRC one, directors who are focused on Corporation Tax and CT600 deadlines can miss it entirely. It runs on its own separate 12-month cycle, tied to when the company was incorporated or last filed — not to the accounting year end used for tax.

What happens if you do not file

Unlike late accounts, there is no escalating financial penalty for a late confirmation statement — but failing to file at all is a criminal offence for the company and its officers, and Companies House can begin the process of striking the company off the register, which can affect its bank accounts, contracts and legal standing.