File confirmation statement: deadline, fee and what happens if you miss it

A confirmation statement is the annual filing that tells Companies House your company's registered details are still correct. Every UK limited company owes one. It is filed under section 853A of the Companies Act 2006, within 14 days of the end of each review period.

What is a confirmation statement?

It is a statutory confirmation, not a set of accounts. Section 853A of the Companies Act 2006 imposes a duty to deliver confirmation statements to the registrar. The filing confirms that the information Companies House holds about your company — officers, registered office, registered email address, share capital, people with significant control — is up to date as at the end of the review period.

It carries no financial information about trading. That is what annual accounts and the Company Tax Return do, and those are separate obligations on separate clocks.

Who must file a confirmation statement?

Every company registered at Companies House. The duty is universal: there is no turnover threshold, no employee threshold, and no exclusion for dormant companies. A company that has never traded still owes a confirmation statement every review period, and so does a company in the middle of being wound down, until it is actually struck off or dissolved.

The duty sits on the company. The offence for missing it, as set out below, reaches further than that.

When is my confirmation statement due?

Within 14 days of the end of your review period. The statement must be delivered before the end of the period of 14 days after the end of each review period.

The anchor is the end of the review period, not the start. Because that anchor falls one day before the delivery window opens, a flat count of 14 days from it lands on the correct final day — the day-count needs no adjustment.

How is the review period calculated?

Your first review period is the 12 months beginning with the day of incorporation. "Beginning with" is doing real work in that sentence: incorporation day is day 1 of the period, not day 0. Each subsequent review period is the 12 months beginning with the day after the end of the previous one.

So the review periods chain end-to-end with no gap. Once you know your incorporation date, every future review period is determined — unless you file early, which changes things.

What happens if I file the confirmation statement early?

Filing early resets the clock. The next review period becomes 12 months from the earlier confirmation date, not 12 months from where it would otherwise have fallen.

This is the single most common reason a company's confirmation statement date drifts away from the anniversary of incorporation. It is not an error and nothing has gone wrong — the statutory period simply re-anchors to whatever date you actually confirmed on.

What is the deadline for a newly incorporated company?

Review period 1 runs for 12 months beginning with the day of incorporation, so the first statement is due within 14 days after that first 12-month period ends. A company incorporated on the 3rd of a month therefore has a first review period ending on the 2nd of the corresponding month a year later, with the 14-day delivery window running from there.

How much does it cost to file a confirmation statement?

£50 to file digitally, £110 on paper. The fee is payable with the first statement in each 12-month payment period, not on every statement filed within it.

A fee is not a penalty. Paying £50 is what the filing costs when you are perfectly on time; it has no relationship to the consequences of being late, which are set out next.

What is the penalty for a late confirmation statement?

Failing to deliver a confirmation statement is a criminal offence, not a civil late-filing charge. This is the point most often got wrong, because the better-known Companies House penalty regime — the automatic £150-to-£1,500 ladder — attaches to late accounts, not to confirmation statements.

Under section 853L of the Companies Act 2006, the offence is committed by the company and by every officer of the company who is in default. A shadow director is treated as a director for this purpose.

On summary conviction in England and Wales: a fine, and, for continued contravention, a daily default fine not exceeding the greater of £500 and one-tenth of level 4 on the standard scale.

In Scotland or Northern Ireland: a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale and, for continued contravention, a daily default fine not exceeding one-tenth of level 5.

There is no first-time-versus-repeat distinction in section 853L. The escalation mechanism is the daily default fine for continued contravention, not a doubling on the second offence.

What happens if I file late?

Two things run in parallel. The offence above is committed the moment the 14-day window closes. Separately, a company whose register is not maintained can be treated by Companies House as no longer carrying on business, which opens the administrative route to strike-off. Strike-off is a registrar action, not the statutory penalty — the criminal offence in section 853L is the penalty.

Can I get an extension on a confirmation statement?

No. Section 853A provides no extension mechanism and no application route for one. Unlike the accounts deadline — where the Secretary of State can grant an extension, capped at twelve months after the end of the accounting reference period — there is nothing in the confirmation statement duty to extend.

How does director identity verification affect my confirmation statement?

From 18 November 2025, the confirmation statement is also the vehicle by which directors supply their Companies House personal code. For a director who was already in post before that date, the identity verification statement is delivered at the same time as the company's next confirmation statement.

That makes your own confirmation statement date the operative date — it is company-specific and rolling, and it is the date that matters. The end of the national transitional period, 17 November 2026, is a labelled statutory boundary, not a deadline by which every director must be verified: a company that files no confirmation statement inside the window still owes the identity verification statement with whatever confirmation statement it files next.

What changed recently?

The confirmation statement's role widened rather than its timing. The 14-day window and the review-period mechanics in section 853A are unchanged. What changed on 18 November 2025 is that identity verification now rides on this filing, and that companies must maintain a registered email address and an appropriate registered office — both of which the confirmation statement confirms.

How do I file a confirmation statement?

Through the Companies House filing service, as form CS01. Before filing, check that the details the statement confirms are actually current — officers, registered office, registered email address, PSC register, share capital and SIC codes. Where something has changed, the change is notified separately and the confirmation statement then confirms the corrected position.

Related

• Annual accounts and late filing penalties — the other Companies House annual filing, on a different clock and a different penalty regime
• Director identity verification (ECCTA) — the statement that now rides on this filing
• People with significant control: register and notification — 14 days to notify a confirmed change
• Registered office address · registered email address — the details this statement confirms
• Pillar hub: Companies House filing obligations (placeholder)
• Companies House deadline checker — enter your company number to see your own confirmation statement date