How to File a CS01 Confirmation Statement (Step-by-Step)

Every UK limited company must file a confirmation statement (form CS01) with Companies House at least once every 12 months. It replaced the annual return in June 2016, and while the name changed, the core obligation didn't — you're confirming that the information Companies House holds about your company is correct and up to date.

If you've never filed one yourself, or you've been relying on an accountant and want to understand what's actually involved, here's the complete process.

What Is a CS01?

A CS01 is a confirmation statement — a filing that tells Companies House "the information you hold about this company is accurate as of this date." It's not a set of accounts. It doesn't contain financial information. It's a check that your company's public record is correct.

The information covered includes:

• Registered office address
• Directors and their details (name, date of birth, nationality, residential address, service address)
• Secretary (if you have one — a private company isn't required to)
• Persons with significant control (PSCs) — anyone who holds more than 25% of shares or voting rights, or otherwise exercises significant control
• Share capital and shareholders — the total number of shares, their nominal value, and who holds them (see when a statement of capital is needed)
• SIC codes — the Standard Industrial Classification codes that describe your business activity
• Trading status of shares — whether shares are traded on a market

You're not submitting all of this information each time. You're confirming that what Companies House already has on file is still correct. If anything has changed, you should have already filed the relevant update (change of director, change of registered office, etc.) before filing the CS01.

Filing Deadline

Your confirmation statement is due within 14 days of the end of your review period. The review period is 12 months from either:

• The date of incorporation (for the first confirmation statement), or
• The date to which the last confirmation statement was made up

Example: Your company was incorporated on 1 June 2024. Your first review period ends on 31 May 2025. You must file your CS01 by 14 June 2025.

After that, each review period runs 12 months from the previous one — so the next would end 31 May 2026, with a filing deadline of 14 June 2026.

You can file early. Filing a confirmation statement before your review period ends simply starts a new 12-month review period from the day after the date you file to. You can file more often than once a year if you want to keep records current — there's no penalty for filing more frequently.

Filing Fee

As of February 2026:

Method	Fee
Online (WebFiling)	£50
Paper (posted to Companies House)	£110

The fee is annual: you pay it with your first confirmation statement in each 12-month payment period, and any further statements you file in that period are free. Online filing is cheaper and faster — paper documents sent by post might take a week or more to process.

Identity Verification Requirement

Since the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA) mandate took effect in November 2025, all directors must have a verified identity with Companies House before filing a confirmation statement. There is a 12-month transition period ending November 2026, during which existing directors must complete verification. If your identity isn't verified, your CS01 filing will be rejected.

PSCs (people with significant control) must verify too, but their personal code isn't part of the confirmation statement — they provide it separately, through Companies House's "Provide identity verification details for a PSC" service, and "The 14 day period for doing this depends on your situation." If you were already a PSC before 18 November 2025 and you're also a director, that window starts the day after the company's confirmation statement date; a pre-existing PSC who isn't a director uses the first 14 days of their birth month. Anyone who became a PSC after 18 November 2025 can provide their code when they're first added to the register, or within 14 days of being added.

If you haven't yet verified your identity, you can do so through the Companies House identity verification service. You can verify online with GOV.UK One Login if you have one of these types of photo ID: a biometric passport from any country, a UK photo driving licence (full or provisional), or a UK biometric residence permit, biometric residence card or Frontier Worker permit. If you live in the UK and don't have one of these, the service will tell you whether you can verify with bank or building society details or in person at a Post Office. You can also ask a Companies House authorised agent (ACSP), such as an accountant or solicitor, to verify your identity for you. Companies House says that for most people it's a one-off process that can be done in a few minutes — but allow time in case of issues, especially if you're close to your filing deadline. Our Companies House identity verification guide walks through each route step by step, with the deadline for each role.

Step-by-Step: Filing via WebFiling

1. Log in to Companies House WebFiling

Go to GOV.UK confirmation statement filing page and sign in to your WebFiling account. You'll need your company number and your authentication code (posted to your registered office — if you've lost it, request it through WebFiling and Companies House posts a reminder of your existing code, which takes up to 10 working days).

2. Select "File a Confirmation Statement"

Enter your company number and select the confirmation statement option. WebFiling will tell you when your next confirmation statement is due.

3. Review the Company Information

WebFiling will display the current information Companies House holds, section by section:

• Registered office — check the address is correct
• Officers — check all directors (and secretary, if applicable) are listed correctly with current details
• PSCs — check that persons with significant control are correctly recorded
• Share capital — check the total shares, nominal value, and currency
• Shareholders — check the list of shareholders and their holdings
• SIC codes — check the industry codes match your current business activity

For each section, you confirm the information is correct. Changes to the registered office, directors or secretary, PSCs or the registered email address must be filed first on the relevant form (e.g., AP01 for a new director appointment, AD01 for a change of registered office), before you file the confirmation statement.

However, for SIC code changes and some shareholder updates, you can make the change within the confirmation statement filing itself.

4. Confirm the Statement Date

The statement date (the confirmation date) can be any date up to the last day of your review period, but never later. If you choose an earlier date because you're filing early, your next review period starts the day after it. You're confirming the information is correct as of this date.

5. Pay the Fee

Pay the £50 fee online by debit or credit card, or via a Companies House payment account if you have one.

6. Submit

Once submitted, you'll receive an on-screen confirmation and an email. Companies House aims to process most online filings within 24 hours, and Companies House sends a second email, normally within 2 working days, to tell you whether your statement has been accepted or rejected.

What Happens If You Don't File

Unlike late accounts, there is no automatic financial penalty for a late confirmation statement. But that doesn't mean there are no consequences — and since 2 May 2024 Companies House has been able to issue financial penalties after a warning notice. Our guide to what happens when a confirmation statement is overdue walks through the full sequence.

Companies House can begin strike-off proceedings. If you haven't filed your confirmation statement, Companies House may assume the company is no longer in operation and start the process to remove it from the register. They'll send warning letters to the registered office first, but if you've moved and not updated the address, you might not receive them.

Directors can face prosecution. Failure to file a confirmation statement is a criminal offence under s.853L of the Companies Act 2006. Companies House describes its financial penalties as "an alternative to prosecution", but says it may consider prosecution if the same serious or very serious offence is committed 3 times in 5 years. On conviction, the penalty is a fine.

Your company looks dormant or abandoned. Anyone searching your company on the public register will see the overdue status. Banks, suppliers and customers can check it at any time — and an overdue confirmation statement raises immediate questions about whether the company is being properly managed.

CS01 vs Annual Accounts

These are separate obligations and they confuse a lot of first-time directors.

	Confirmation Statement (CS01)	Annual Accounts
What it covers	Company structure: officers, shareholders, registered office, PSCs	Financial performance: balance sheet, profit & loss, notes
Filing frequency	At least once every 12 months	Once per financial year
Deadline	14 days after review period end	9 months after accounting reference date (private companies)
Late penalty	No automatic penalty, but risk of strike-off	Automatic penalty starting at £150, escalating to £1,500+
Fee	£50 online / £110 paper	No filing fee
Filed with	Companies House	Companies House (and separately, Corporation Tax return to HMRC)

Missing one does not excuse missing the other. They run on different timetables and serve different purposes.

Keep Track of Your Deadlines

It's easy to miss a confirmation statement deadline simply by forgetting it exists — especially if an accountant handles your accounts but not the confirmation statement.

Use our free filing deadline countdown tool to estimate when your CS01 is due (then confirm the date on the Companies House register), and run through our confirmation statement checklist before filing to make sure nothing is out of date.

CompanyMinder doesn't prepare or file the confirmation statement — you file it yourself through Companies House's online service. What it does is create your confirmation statement deadline from the Companies House register when you add the company by its number, and email you before it falls due.

Sources

• Companies Act 2006, s.853A–s.853L — Confirmation statements
• File your confirmation statement — GOV.UK
• Verify your identity for Companies House — GOV.UK
• When you need to verify your identity for Companies House — GOV.UK