What Are Annual Returns? If you run a limited company, you’ve probably heard the phrase “annual return” thrown around by your accountant, your bank, or that one relative who insists they know company law. Here’s the twist: the annual return, as a form, doesn’t actually exist anymore. It was retired back in 2016. Yet the term refuses to die, a bit like fax machines and “reply all” email chains.
So what are annual returns really about today, and why does everyone still ask about them? Let’s clear it up properly.
What Are Annual Returns, UK Style?
The annual return used to be a yearly snapshot that every UK limited company had to send to Companies House. It listed directors, shareholders, registered office address, and share capital, and you had to re-enter all of it every single year, even if nothing had changed.
That changed under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015. From June 2016, the annual return was replaced by a new filing called the confirmation statement. So when someone asks “what is an annual return UK companies must file,” the honest answer is: they don’t file that form anymore. They file its replacement.
Confirmation Statement vs Annual Return: What Actually Changed
This is where a lot of business owners get tangled up, so here’s the confirmation statement vs annual return comparison in simple terms.
The old annual return asked you to restate everything from scratch each year. The confirmation statement flips that approach. You review what Companies House already holds on record, and you simply confirm it’s accurate, or update the bits that aren’t. No need to retype your entire shareholder list if nothing has moved.
Think of it like a subscription renewal. The old system made you fill out a brand-new form every time. The new system just asks, “Still the same details? Tick yes, or tell us what changed.”
Annual Return Companies House Filing: What It Covers Now
Even though the name has changed, the purpose hasn’t. Companies House keeps a public register so lenders, suppliers, and curious competitors can check who actually runs a company. The confirmation statement is how that register stays honest.
When people search for annual return Companies House requirements, they’re usually asking what needs confirming. It typically includes:
- Registered office address
- Details of directors and any company secretary
- People with Significant Control, known as PSCs
- Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code, describing what your business does
- Share capital and shareholder information
- A registered email address, a requirement added from March 2024
- A statement confirming your company’s future activities are lawful, introduced under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023
Every UK limited company must file this at least once every 12 months, even if the business is dormant or has never traded. Companies House doesn’t care whether you’re booming or barely breathing. If you exist on the register, you confirm your details.
What Is Annual Return vs What Is Annual Turnover: Don’t Mix Them Up
Here’s a classic mix-up: Someone types “what is annual turnover” into Google while actually trying to understand annual returns, and ends up more confused than when they started.
Annual turnover is a financial figure: It’s the total revenue your business generates over a financial year, before you subtract costs, tax, or anything else. It shows up in your annual accounts, not in your confirmation statement.
The confirmation statement, meanwhile, has nothing to do with money coming in or going out. It’s about who owns and runs the company, not how much the company earned. Different job, different form, different deadline. Mixing the two is a bit like confusing your passport renewal with your bank statement. Both are official, both matter, but they answer completely different questions.
How to File an Annual Return UK Companies Actually Use Today
Since the modern filing is the confirmation statement, here’s how to file an annual return UK style, using the current process:
- Check your review period:This runs for 12 months from incorporation, or from your last confirmation statement.
- Verify director identity: From November 2025, directors and PSCs must complete identity verification through Companies House, using a personal code from GOV.UK One Login.
- Review your details online: Log into WebFiling or the Companies House online service and check the pre-filled information carefully.
- Update anything incorrect: using the relevant forms before you confirm.
- Submit and pay: As of 1 February 2026, the online filing fee is £50, up from £34. Paper filing costs considerably more, at £110.
- File within 14 days: of the end of your review period.
Skipping the identity verification step is one of the more common hold-ups right now, since Companies House won’t accept the statement until every director involved has verified who they are.
Annual Accounts Filing: The Other Half of the Puzzle
A confirmation statement is not the same as annual accounts filing, and this is where directors often trip up. Annual accounts are your actual financial statements, covering income, expenses, and overall performance for the year.
- Private companies must file annual accounts within nine months of their financial year end.
- Public companies have a tighter six-month window.
These deadlines run separately from your confirmation statement deadline, even if the dates happen to land close together.
Treat them as two entirely different jobs:
- One tells Companies House who you are.
- The other tells Companies House, and HMRC, how your business performed.
Limited Company Compliance: Why This Actually Matters
Limited company compliance isn’t just paperwork for the sake of paperwork. Filing late, or not at all, is a criminal offence, not a minor administrative slip. Directors can face personal fines, and persistent non-filing can lead to Companies House striking the company off the register entirely.
Once a company is struck off, its bank accounts get frozen and any remaining assets pass to the Crown. That’s a fairly dramatic outcome for something that started as a missed 14-day deadline.
Company filing requirements have also become stricter recently. The identity verification rules, the lawful-purpose declaration, and the mandatory registered email address all reflect Companies House tightening its grip under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act. The goal is a cleaner, more trustworthy register, which benefits genuine businesses even if it adds a few more boxes to tick.
How FA Accountants Can Help
Confirmation statements are simple in theory, but the identity checks, deadlines, and overlapping filing dates trip up even organised directors. FA Accountants handle this kind of limited company compliance daily, keeping track of review periods, filing confirmation statements accurately, and making sure annual accounts don’t quietly slip past their deadline while you’re busy running the business.
If compliance dates keep sneaking up on you, that’s usually a sign it’s time to let someone else watch the calendar.
Final Thoughts
What Are Annual Returns? The phrase “annual return” survives in everyday conversation, but the form itself belongs to 2016. Today, what is an annual return really means the confirmation statement: a yearly check-in that confirms your company’s details are accurate, separate from your annual accounts, and separate from your annual turnover.
Get the terminology straight, understand what Companies House actually wants, and file on time. It’s a small task with genuinely serious consequences if ignored.
Quick Questions People Also Ask
Is a confirmation statement the same as annual accounts?
No. The confirmation statement confirms who runs and owns your company. Annual accounts show its financial performance. Companies House expects both, but on separate schedules.
Do dormant companies need to file one?
Yes. Even a company that has never traded must file a confirmation statement every 12 months. Dormancy doesn’t excuse you from limited company compliance.
What happens if I file late?
There’s no automatic late fee for a confirmation statement, unlike late accounts. But it’s still a criminal offence, and Companies House can begin striking your company off if you ignore it long enough.
Can I file it myself, or do I need an accountant?
You can file directly through Companies House WebFiling. Many directors still choose an accountant or formation agent, mainly to avoid missing deadlines or fumbling the identity verification step.