In the UK, every limited company and limited liability partnership must submit a confirmation statement to Companies House each year. This filing requirement known as the yearly confirmation statement was established on June 30, 2016 and replaced the yearly return.
Even if the company is dormant, limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and limited companies within the UK are required to submit a confirmation statement to the house registrar/Companies House and this has to be completed at least once a year. It verifies that the data that is kept about your business is accurate. Even though you must file it annually, you can do so more frequently if details change.
What is a Companies House confirmation statement?
The confirmation statement also known as Companies House form CS01. It is used to ensure that crucial company information registered at Companies House is correct as of a particular date.
The business should amend any outdated or inaccurate information before or at the time of submitting the confirmation statement, when the confirmation statement is due.
Since you do not need to add previously filed info when there have been zero changes in the last 12 months, this statement is easier to complete than the annual return.
You just need to check and confirm the information on the statement if your company’s details are unchanged. As you have no modifications to report.
Who is responsible for filing the statement?
Even if these administrative responsibilities are assigned to a company secretary. Directors are nevertheless legally obligated to make sure that all legal documents, which includes confirmation statements, are submitted to Companies House by the required timeframes.
LLP Confirmation statements must be filed by designated members.
A company and its officers may suffer harsh repercussions if they fail to provide a confirmation statement. In fact, it is a criminal offence to not submit one.
The registrar could take action to disqualify the designated LLP members or directors, remove the company or LLP, and prosecute or disqualify them.
How to file a confirmation statement
You can file your confirmation statements in three different ways. These include the following:
- Online at Companies House website via WedFiling
- Online via a company formation agent
- Sending form CSO1 or LL CSO1 for LLPs, via post
It is recommended to submit this statement online – this saves time as your form will be pre-populated with existing data and there are checks to make the procedure quicker and easier.
By filing your statement with Webfiling, there is only one payment of £13. While with agents, they may charge you slightly more for their time and effort. By submitting your statement by post, this can cost you up to £40. You will only be charged once every year, when filing your confirmation statement, unlike the annual return.
The fee is payable regardless of the number of statements you submit throughout your 12-month review period as well. This implies that you may change your company information as frequently as necessary without paying any further fees.
When must you file your statement?
Every 12 months, every private limited companies (including LLPs), whether active or dormant, are required to submit to the Companies House, a confirmation statement.
Even if a business is not conducting business, certain aspects of its internal organisation may change. As a result, you must annually verify that the data stored at Companies House is accurate as of a specific date.
As a result, a confirmation statement must be submitted at a minimum of once a year. No later than 14 days following the conclusion of your 12-month “review period.” Your evaluation time begins on:
- the day the business was founded, or
- the prior confirmation statement’s “statement date”
Your review period expires the previous day:
- the anniversary of the business’s founding, or
- the date of the most recent confirmation statement’s statement
You must verify that the company details provided at Companies House is accurate by the statement date.
Even if there are no changes to report, you must still submit a confirmation statement to Companies House in order to verify the accuracy of your company’s information. This is the main objective of these confirmation statements.
What is in a confirmation statement?
You need just verify that the data listed at Companies House is accurate and current at the moment to submit a confirmation statement. You will need to verify and confirm the following information, where appropriate:
- Registered office location.
- Registered office location.
- Only One Additional Inspection Site (SAIL address).
- Officers in the company today (i.e., LLP members directors, and company secretary).
- Location of the statutory registers for the corporation (i.e., at a SAIL address, at the registered office, or held at Companies House).
- The primary business activities of the company or Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes.
- Each shareholder’s name.
- Shares that each shareholder owns (details of any transfers, quantity, and class).
- Capitalization statement.
- Shares of Persons with Significant Control’s trading status (PSCs).
- Exemption from maintaining a PSC registration.
Summary
Every company and business whether active or dormant has to file a company house confirmation statement every year. This ensures that all the details held about the company are up-to-date.
Hence, this is a legal document that cannot be forgotten. It is something that you have to complete every 12 months at a minimum. If you notice any details have changed before this period, you can easily amend your statement with no extra fees.
