ANNUAL RETURNS - NOW CALLED CONFIRMATION STATEMENT. What are they?
All Limited Companies must complete an annual return, now called a Confirmation Statement, once a year to Companies House.
This provides an overview of your company and ensures that all information held on the Register is up to date.
The major change is at the first Confirmation Statement you will need to include the information regarding the people who have significant control of the business. This information is held on a "Personal of Significant Control" (PSC) register. This has been brought in to make the ownership of companies more transparent .
You normally get either a letter or email alert (eReminders) from Companies House reminding you to complete the return.
When are they submitted?
The date of the annual return is normally dependent on the date you incorporated the company, it will initially be set 12 months after the incorporation but it can also be the date you last filed your annual return.
You have up to 28 days after the due date, this is one of the Directors Responsibilities and you are legally required to file a return.
What happens if you forget?
If you fail to file the return within the 28 days, the company will be liable for late filing fees (up to £5000) and the company can even be struck off for not completing your annual return. Also bear in mind that it is a criminal offence to not complete an annual return at all.
You can change to a more memorable date i.e. your tax return date, as long as it's not more than 12 months after the last filing date.
How to complete an annual return
If your business hasn’t changed Directors, transferred shares etc. in the year, the annual return is relatively easy to complete and will cost £13 – which can be paid by credit card or PayPal.
We would recommend completing this online via Webfiling, Companies House are keen to promote the use of their online portal to cut down the amount of paperwork and become more efficient therefore although you can complete the Annual Return by Post, the fee increases to £40.
If you want to file the return using Webfiling and have not yet registered, make sure you give yourself enough time, as you need to complete a registration form and they then post the password to the registered office address.
When completing the Annual Return you will be asked to confirm:
- • Company Name and Registration Number
- • Who the Directors are and their details, such as address (plus company secretary if you have one)
- • What your Company does – this is based on the SIC codes – Standard Industrial Classification – you can use up to 4 codes on the return
- • The Type of Company – private or public, limited by shares or guarantee
- • The Registered Office Address – where your list of shareholders is held
- • If you do not keep your company registers at your registered office address, you will need to confirm where they are held – this is known as the SAIL address – Single Alternative Inspection Location.
- • Indicate if the company has shares by a “statement of capital”, the number and value.
- • Shareholders details
- • Where Information on “debentures” are kept
- • Whether the company has traded in the last 12 months
