The confirmation statement, filed as form CS01, is a once-a-year check-in with Companies House where you confirm your UK company’s details are still accurate. It’s not a financial document and it’s not your tax return. It’s a snapshot of who runs the company and what it does, and every UK Ltd has to file one.
People mix it up with annual accounts constantly. They’re different filings, on different deadlines, and skipping the CS01 is what quietly gets companies struck off the register. Here’s exactly what it covers, when it’s due, and what goes wrong if you ignore it.
What the CS01 actually confirms
The confirmation statement doesn’t ask you to send numbers. It asks you to confirm that the information Companies House already holds about your company is still correct, and to update anything that’s changed.
You’re effectively signing off that the public record matches reality. If a director changed, you took on a new shareholder, or you started doing something the existing SIC codes don’t cover, the confirmation statement is where you reconcile that. Many of those changes should also be reported when they happen, but the CS01 is the annual catch-all that says “as of today, this is correct.”
The people-with-significant-control register trips up non-resident founders most. If ownership shifted during the year, or the original PSC information was rushed at formation, the confirmation statement is where Companies House expects it fixed. An out-of-date PSC record is a common reason a statement gets queried.
CS01 vs annual accounts vs corporation tax
These three are separate obligations, and a UK Ltd run from abroad owes all of them. Confusing them is how a founder thinks they’re compliant when they’ve only done one.
| Confirmation statement | Annual accounts | Corporation tax | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Filed with | Companies House | Companies House | HMRC |
| Confirms who runs the company | |||
| Reports the company's finances | |||
| Required even if dormant | |||
| Cadence | At least yearly | Yearly | Yearly |
The short version: the confirmation statement is about identity, accounts are about money filed to Companies House, and the corporation tax return is about money filed to HMRC. Doing your accounts does not file your confirmation statement, and vice versa. They each have their own due date and their own consequence for being late.
When it’s due
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Your review period starts
The 12-month review period runs from the date you incorporated, or from your last confirmation statement. This is your confirmation date.
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You get a filing window
After the review period ends you have a short window — Companies House sets it — to file the CS01 confirming the period’s details. Don’t wait for the very last day.
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You file the statement
Confirm everything is correct or update what changed, then submit. There’s a small annual fee tied to the 12-month period.
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The clock resets
Filing starts the next 12-month review period. If details change mid-year, you can file an additional statement, but the once-a-year minimum still stands.
One useful quirk: the fee is charged per 12-month payment period, not per filing. So if you file an extra confirmation statement partway through the year to record a change, you don’t pay the fee again for that period.
What happens if you miss it
This is the part that makes the CS01 matter more than its size suggests. If you don’t file, Companies House can reasonably conclude the company isn’t being run and begin the process to strike it off the register.
A struck-off company stops existing as a legal entity. Its assets can pass to the Crown, and unwinding the situation is slow and costly. Directors of a company that persistently fails its filing duties can also face enforcement action. For a non-resident founder, the warning letters go to the registered office, so if your mail isn’t being watched, the first you hear of it may be too late.
That last point is the practical risk for cross-border owners. Every Companies House notice lands at your UK registered office address. If nobody’s reading that mail, a missed confirmation statement can snowball into strike-off proceedings while you’re unaware on the other side of the world.
Keeping it from being your problem
The confirmation statement isn’t hard. It’s just easy to forget, and the cost of forgetting is out of proportion to the effort. The trick is treating it as one entry on a wider UK compliance calendar that also includes accounts and corporation tax, rather than a stray task you’ll remember next year.
If you’re juggling deadlines across countries, the cross-border compliance calendar lays the whole rhythm out. And if you’d rather not track any of it, that’s what we do: we hold your registered office, watch the mail, keep your PSC and SIC details current, and file the CS01 on time every year so the company stays in good standing.
Keep your UK Ltd in good standing
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