Each company in the UK must submit a ‘confirmation statement’ on an annual basis to Companies House. Confirmation statements, which were previously known as ‘annual returns’ need to be filed by every business, irrespective of their current status (e.g., not trading or dormant).
The company officials need to examine and confirm that the details provided to Companies House are correct and up to date.
If company details have been modified since the previous filing, some of the details can be changed simply by filling out form CS-01:
- Capital statement
- Primary business activities or SIC
- Exclusion from holding a register of PSC
- Shareholder details
- Trading status of company shares
Nevertheless, other modifications will also need individual forms to be filled out and submitted to the registrar. Some of these are given below:
- Registered office
- PSC
- Company secretary and directors’ details
- SAIL
Even in the event nothing has changed during the review period, it’s still important to file your confirmation statement at Companies House.
Why must you ensure the details provided in the confirmation statements are up to date?
Directors are required to submit confirmation statements as per section 853A of the 2006 Companies Act; if they are unable to do so, it might lead to fines, prosecutions, personal liability, and sometimes the company may even be removed entirely from the register. Therefore, it is a legal obligation to ensure that information provided by you to the Companies House is accurate. Any delay in updating the details may affect the credit status of your company (e.g., any modifications to officers should be communicated within a couple of weeks).
If the information kept on the public catalogue is found to be incorrect, it may result in difficulties with banks or, sometimes, may lead to mergers or planned takeovers collapsing.
Correcting the mistakes on your statement:
If incorrect details are presented in a confirmation statement, you are required to re-submit them using the relevant part of form CS-01:
- CS-01 Section 1: SIC code
- CS-01 Section 2: capital statement
- CS-01 Section 3: exclusion from maintaining a PSC register or trading share status
- CS-01 Section 4: shareholder details
Form RP-04 needs to be presented alongside the appropriate part of form CS-01. This form is used for notifying the registrar of another filing of the report that was correctly delivered, however includes inaccuracies that are being displayed on the public registry. Further guidance on how to utilise form RP-04 is available on GOV.UK.
LLPs are required to fill out form LL RP-04 in place of form RP-04. Nonetheless, there is no paper equivalent to replace sections 1 to 4 of form CS-01; these need to be completed on the internet.
Form RP-04 (along with LL RP-04) must be submitted in paper format (presently, there is no online alternative). It may take a couple of weeks for the registrar to process the information and make the required changes.
Need help filing your confirmation statement? You can file your confirmation statement with our easy-to-use online software by logging in or importing your company here.
If you need some further guidance, please do not hesitate to contact us.
