Companies House filing: what's due and when
On this page
- The pain: you formed a company, and now there are deadlines you've never heard of
- First, two registers you're dealing with (don't mix them up)
- The two things every company must file at Companies House
- Why this catches founders out
- The hard way today: a wall calendar and a hope
- How it's automatic in Ledgers
- What you'd actually see and do
- 1.CIS for contractors made simple
- 2.Companies House filing: what's due and when
A limited company owes Companies House a confirmation statement and annual accounts each year — with strict deadlines. Here's what's due, when, and how Ledgers tracks it for you.
The pain: you formed a company, and now there are deadlines you've never heard of
Setting up a limited company took ten minutes online. What nobody mentioned is that the company is now a living thing with its own paperwork — and Companies House expects regular filings from it, on dates that aren't your birthday, your tax year, or anything intuitive.
There's a confirmation statement. There are annual accounts. There are deadlines, and missing them can mean penalties — or, in the worst case, your company being struck off the register. Yet the dates are scattered, the terms are unfamiliar, and the reminders are easy to miss in a busy inbox.
The fear here is specific: I don't even know what I'm supposed to file, let alone when. So let's make the list short and the dates clear.
First, two registers you're dealing with (don't mix them up)
A common source of confusion: a limited company answers to two different government bodies, with two different sets of filings.
- Companies House holds the public record of your company — who owns it, who runs it, and your annual accounts. This article is about Companies House.
- HMRC handles your tax — the Company Tax Return (CT600), Corporation Tax, VAT, PAYE. That's a separate set of deadlines.
The dates don't line up neatly, which is half the reason people get caught out. Here we're focused on the Companies House side.
The two things every company must file at Companies House
For most small companies, Companies House filing comes down to two recurring obligations.
1. The confirmation statement (form CS01)
The confirmation statement is an annual check-in. Once a year, you confirm to Companies House that the public details they hold about your company are still correct: registered address, directors, shareholders, people with significant control (the people who really own or control the company), and your SIC code (the code describing what your business does).
You're not sending money figures here — it's a confirmation of facts about the company, not its finances. If nothing's changed, you're essentially saying "still the same." If something has changed, you update it.
When it's due: every company has a "confirmation period" (usually a year from incorporation or from your last statement), and you have a set window after that period ends to file. The form itself is the CS01. There's a small annual fee to file it.
Miss it and your company can ultimately be struck off, so it matters even though it's quick.
2. The annual accounts
Once a year your company must file annual accounts at Companies House — the formal financial statements, built around your balance sheet (a snapshot of what the company owns and owes). (See What is a balance sheet?.)
Most small companies file in a simplified form:
- Micro-entity accounts (FRS 105) if you're very small — a stripped-back balance sheet with minimal detail.
- Small / abridged accounts — a step up, still shortened, so you don't have to show the world your full profit and loss.
- Dormant accounts — if the company didn't trade, you still file a near-empty set confirming there was no activity.
When they're due: annual accounts are tied to your company's accounting reference date (its financial year-end). The first set after incorporation has a longer window; after that, you generally have nine months from your year-end to file with Companies House. Late accounts trigger automatic penalties that get steeper the longer you leave them.
Filing rules and deadlines do get updated, so confirm your specific dates and the current requirements with Companies House (your company's filing dates are shown on the public register).
Why this catches founders out
None of these tasks is hard. The problem is purely timing and memory:
- The confirmation statement date and the accounts date are usually different, and neither matches your tax deadlines.
- They come round once a year, so you can't build a habit — by the time the next one's due, you've forgotten how you did the last one.
- The penalties are real and, for late accounts, automatic.
So the entire challenge is knowing what's due, when, and not letting the date slip past in a busy month. Which is exactly the kind of thing software should be doing for you.
The hard way today: a wall calendar and a hope
Right now, most founders manage Companies House filings with willpower:
Companies House email reminders. Companies House can email reminders, but they land in the same inbox as everything else and are easy to miss or ignore until it's nearly too late. And a reminder isn't the same as the work being ready.
A diary note or spreadsheet of dates. Some founders manually track their confirmation statement date and accounts deadline in a calendar. It works right up until life gets busy and the reminder gets snoozed. And it does nothing to actually prepare the accounts — the figures still have to come from somewhere.
Your accountant handles it. Many do, and that's fine — but if your bookkeeping is messy, your accountant can't produce accounts on time, and the confirmation statement often falls between the cracks because it's "not really accounting." You're still the one chasing.
Xero or spreadsheets for the books. Your accounting tool holds the numbers behind the accounts, but it generally won't track your Companies House deadlines or tell you a confirmation statement is due. Those are two separate worlds, and you're the bridge.
The recurring theme across this whole cluster holds here too: the tools can hold pieces, but you are the one expected to remember the date and pull it all together — once a year, for a task you only do once a year.
How it's automatic in Ledgers
Ledgers includes a Companies House tracker that turns these once-a-year surprises into managed, visible deadlines.
It knows your filing dates. Ledgers tracks your confirmation statement date and your accounts deadline, so the dates live in your books — not in your memory or a buried email.
It reminds you before they bite. Instead of a single easy-to-miss email, you get clear, advance reminders that the confirmation statement or accounts are coming up, with enough runway to act calmly rather than in a panic.
The accounts are built on books that are already right. Because Ledgers keeps your bookkeeping continuously reconciled and your balance sheet up to date, the financial statements behind your annual accounts aren't a year-end scramble — the numbers are ready when the deadline is. And the accountant portal means your accountant can pull what they need to finalise and file.
It tracks the related events too. Changes like issuing new shares (the SH01 form) are part of keeping your Companies House record straight, and the tracker keeps those in view alongside the confirmation statement, so your public record and your cap table stay aligned.
You always confirm the exact filing details with Companies House, but you're no longer relying on memory to know that something is due.
What you'd actually see and do
With Ledgers, the Companies House calendar stops being a source of dread:
- Open Ledgers and see your upcoming filings — confirmation statement and accounts — with their dates clearly shown.
- Get reminded well ahead of each deadline, not the night before.
- When accounts are due, the numbers are already reconciled and ready, so you (or your accountant via the portal) can finalise without a year-end fire drill.
- File on time, confirm the details with Companies House, and move on.
What used to be "wait, was something due?" becomes a clear, scheduled, two-things-a-year checklist that's handled long before the penalty letters could.
Companies House only asks for two things a year — but they're a year apart, on dates that match nothing else, and the penalties are automatic. In Ledgers, the Companies House tracker watches your confirmation statement and accounts deadlines, reminds you early, and keeps your books reconciled so the accounts are ready when they're due. See your numbers without learning accounting → start free.
Not sure what goes in the accounts? Start with What is a balance sheet? →
Run your whole back office without the bookkeeping: Run your books without becoming a bookkeeper →
Frequently asked questions
What is a confirmation statement?
An annual filing (form CS01) where you confirm to Companies House that the public details about your company — directors, shareholders, registered address, people with significant control, SIC code — are still correct. It confirms facts, not finances, and there's a small fee.
What do I have to file at Companies House each year?
For most small companies: a confirmation statement and a set of annual accounts. These have different deadlines from each other and from your HMRC tax filings, so confirm your specific dates with Companies House.
When are my annual accounts due?
They're tied to your company's financial year-end. After your first year, you generally have nine months from your year-end to file with Companies House, with automatic penalties for filing late. Check your exact dates on the public register or with Companies House.
What happens if I miss a Companies House deadline?
Late annual accounts trigger automatic penalties that increase over time, and a missed confirmation statement can ultimately lead to your company being struck off the register. Filing on time matters even when the task itself is quick.
See your numbers without learning accounting
Ledgers does the bookkeeping — bank feeds, VAT, year-end — and keeps your accountant in the loop. Free for pre-revenue founders.
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