What is a Confirmation Statement?
Previously known as annual return, every year all limited companies must submit a confirmation statement to Companies House. This statement provides current information about the company, its officials, and the breakdown of its share capital on the anniversary of the company’s incorporation and is different to the company’s annual accounts. This statement is filed with Companies House is publicly available so that anyone can verify the details and legitimacy of the company.
Who is responsible for preparing it?
The director(s) of the company and the secretary are the ones responsible for making sure that they provide the annual return to Companies House. The confirmation statement must be provided within 28 days after the ‘made up date’, this is either the anniversary of incorporation of a company or the date of the last annual return.
The confirmation statement must include:
- Information about your registered office, directors, secretary and the address of where you keep your records
- Your statement of capital and shareholder information (if your company holds shares)
- Your SIC code(the number that identifies what your company does)
- Your register of ‘people with significant control’ (PSC)
You can report changes to your statement of capital, shareholder information and SIC codes in the confirmation statement. However, you cannot use the this statement to make changes to:
- your company’s officers
- the registered office address
- the address where you keep your records
- people with significant control
These changes must be filed separately with Companies House.
When is the confirmation statement due?
You will receive an email of letter reminding you when your confirmation statement is due for renewal. This date is usually a year after either:
- the date your company incorporated
- the date you filed your last annual return or confirmation statement
It is possible to file your confirmation statement up to 14 days after the due date. However, it is a criminal offense to submit it any later than this and you can be fined up to £5,000 and your company may even be struck off if you do not send your statement on time.
How to prepare a confirmation statement
The first step is to download and fill in a confirmation statement form available online and post it to Companies House – the address is on the form .If you are updating information about your company you will need to download and fill in parts 1 to 4.
You’ll need a Companies House password and authentication code to login online go to Companies House to register. It is also possible to print out the form and submit the return via post which costs £40 plus the cost of recorded delivery. However, many people find submitting the form online easier and cheaper as it’s only £13 to file your confirmation statements online.
If this is the first time you’ve had to file your confirmation statements the experts at BNA Consulting can help you with every step of the process.
Contact BNA Consulting today and save precious time and energy and get back to the things which really matter for your business.