You may or may not be aware that Companies House is changing its Annual Return policy. An Annual Return is delivered, unsurprisingly on an “annual” basis, within 28 days of the anniversary of the company’s incorporation. An Annual Return includes the following information:-
- details of the directors and company secretary, if it has one
- what the company does – including its standard industrial classification (SIC) codes
- the type of company it is, eg private or public
- the registered company address
- the ‘single alternative inspection location’ (SAIL) – the address where records are kept if not at the registered address
From 30 June 2016, Companies House is introducing a new “Confirmation Statement”. In simple terms, rather than providing a snapshot of your company data at a specific date, you will now ‘check and confirm’ the information Companies House hold is accurate once a year. You will need to review all of your details and inform Companies House of any changes. This will include any information held in your PSC Register, or peoples with significant control.
In effect, along with the PSC Register you will still need to provide the information as on the old Annual Return format, however, if no changes have taken place in a given year, then the confirmation statement will be a simplified process.
The online filing fee of £13 (and £40 for paper submissions) has not changed. This includes any revisions mad on the confirmation statement. This fee is only payable once a year.
The main change is the due date for the confirmation statement, which has shortened from 28 days from the Anniversary date to 14 days.
It is important to make sure you are up to date, so please ensure that all correspondence from Companies House sent to the registered office is reviewed and actioned when appropriate.
If you have any further questions regarding the new confirmation statement, please contact a member of our Statutory Department.
