From 30 June 2016, the annual return that all UK companies must file at Companies House has been replaced by a confirmation statement.
The basic difference between the annual return and the confirmation statement is that the confirmation statement will not require previously delivered information to be repeated, making it simpler to complete. Instead a company will confirm that the relevant information has either been delivered to Companies House as required during the year or (if it cannot give this confirmation) is being delivered with the confirmation statement.
The confirmation statement covers the same areas of information regarding the company, its directors and shareholders as the annual return, but also reflects recent changes in company law. In particular:
- A company will have to supply information about its register of people with significant control (or state that it is exempt from the requirement to keep one).
- Where a private company has elected to keep statutory registers on the Companies House public register (see Companies House: private company registers) it will have to confirm that all information necessary to keep those registers up to date has been filed at Companies House.
Unlike the annual return, there is no set date each year up to which the confirmation statement must be made. The only requirement is that no more than 12 months must elapse between confirmation statements. This rolling 12-month period means that a company can combine making a confirmation statement with another filing at any point during the year if this is administratively easier.
The fee for filing a confirmation statement will be the same as the fee for filing an annual return. This is £13 if online and £40 by paper. The confirmation statement regime also applies to LLPs.
The Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (Filing Requirements) Regulations 2016
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