UK Confirmation Statement Deadline: The Complete Guide 2026

What a confirmation statement actually is

A confirmation statement is not a tax return and it does not report your company's finances. It is a yearly check-in that confirms the information Companies House holds about your company is still correct: your registered office, your directors and secretary, your shareholders and statement of capital, your SIC code, and your people with significant control (PSC) details. If nothing has changed since your last filing, you still have to file, you are just confirming there is nothing new to report.

Every active UK company, whether it is trading, dormant, or a shell, has to file one at least once every 12 months. There is no exemption for small companies.

When your confirmation statement is actually due

This is where most of the confusion sits. Your deadline is not a fixed date on the calendar, and it is not the anniversary of when the company was formed either, at least not directly.

Here is how it actually works:

1. Your first review period ends 12 months after the date your company was incorporated.
2. Every review period after that ends 12 months after the confirmation statement date on your previous filing.
3. Once a review period ends, you have 14 days to file the statement.

So the real deadline is: review period end date, plus 14 days.

If you file early, a new 12 month review period starts from that filing date. That can be useful if your company details are about to change and you want to bundle updates into one filing, but it also means your annual date can drift earlier each year if you are not paying attention.

The most reliable way to check your actual deadline is to look up your company on the Companies House register rather than guessing from memory or your incorporation certificate.

What happens if you miss it

Late confirmation statements do not carry the same automatic scaled penalty that late annual accounts do. But the consequences are still serious:

• Companies House can take steps to strike your company off the register.
• Directors can be fined, with penalties of up to £5,000.
• A struck off company loses its legal status, which can affect contracts, banking, and any assets held in the company's name.

In practice, most small businesses that miss the deadline are not being reckless. The date simply was not on anyone's calendar, or it shifted after an earlier filing and nobody noticed.

How to file it

You can file a confirmation statement two ways:

• Online, through Companies House WebFiling or an authorised software provider. This costs £50 and is processed quickly.
• By post, using form CS01. This costs £110 and takes considerably longer to process.

Online filing is almost always the better option unless you have a specific reason to file on paper.

Before filing, you will need a Companies House password and authentication code for your company. If any of your details have changed, for example your SIC code, statement of capital, or shareholder information, you update them as part of the same filing rather than submitting a separate change notice.

Why this deadline is easy to lose track of

Confirmation statements are easy to miss for a few structural reasons:

• The date moves if you ever file early, so last year's date is not a safe reference point.
• It sits alongside several other unrelated deadlines, corporation tax, VAT, PAYE, annual accounts, that all run on their own separate cycles.
• Nobody in a small business is usually assigned to own it. It is not obviously the accountant's job, and it is not obviously the director's either, so it can fall between the two.

The result is that businesses without a dedicated finance team end up relying on Companies House's own email reminder, which arrives close to the deadline and gives little room to act if something else needs sorting first, like an outdated registered office address.

Building a routine so it never sneaks up on you

The most reliable fix is not a better reminder, it is removing the need to remember at all. A few practical habits help:

1. Check your actual review period end date on the Companies House register now, rather than assuming it matches last year's date.
2. Sign up for Companies House email reminders as a backup, not a primary system.
3. Keep your registered office, SIC code, and PSC information up to date year round, so the confirmation statement itself takes minutes rather than requiring a scramble to gather changes.
4. Track the deadline somewhere that surfaces it automatically, alongside your other statutory and commercial dates, rather than in a single person's memory or inbox.

That last point is the gap Guardrail is built for. Instead of tracking your confirmation statement date, your accounts deadline, your VAT dates, and your contract renewal notice periods across separate systems, Guardrail keeps all of it in one place and surfaces what is coming up before it becomes urgent.

The short version

Your confirmation statement is due 14 days after your review period ends, and that review period end date can move if you ever file early. Miss it, and you risk fines or your company being struck off. File online for £50 rather than by post for £110. And treat the deadline as something your systems track automatically, not something any one person has to remember.