UK Company Annual Filing Requirements 2026/27: Deadlines, Fees and Penalties

Running a UK limited company means a fixed set of yearly filings, split between two bodies: Companies House (accounts and the confirmation statement) and HMRC (Corporation Tax). Miss a deadline and the penalties are automatic. This guide sets out every 2026/27 deadline, fee and penalty, verified against the current gov.uk guidance, plus the identity verification rules that came into force in November 2025.

The four things you file every year

Filing	Who to	Deadline
Annual accounts	Companies House	9 months after financial year end
Confirmation statement	Companies House	Within 14 days of each 12-month review period
Corporation Tax payment	HMRC	9 months and 1 day after accounting period end
Company Tax Return (CT600)	HMRC	12 months after accounting period end

Note the split: the tax payment to HMRC is due before the tax return that calculates it. That catches out a lot of first-year directors.

Annual accounts

You must send annual accounts to Companies House even if the company is dormant. The deadlines are tied to your accounting reference date (usually the anniversary of the end of the month you incorporated in):

• First accounts: due 21 months after the date you registered with Companies House. Because a first accounting period is often longer than 12 months, the first deadline is longer too.
• Every year after that: due 9 months after your company's financial year ends.

Source: Companies House - prepare and file annual accounts.

Most small companies can file abridged or "small company" / micro-entity accounts rather than full statutory accounts, which reduces the detail placed on the public register.

Worked example

A company incorporated on 6 April 2026 has:

• a first accounting period ending 30 April 2027 (Companies House sets the first accounting reference date to the last day of the month of the first anniversary of incorporation),
• first accounts due 6 January 2028 - 21 months after 6 April 2026,
• and thereafter accounts due 31 January each year - 9 months after the 30 April year end.

Confirmation statement

The confirmation statement (form CS01) is a yearly check that Companies House holds the right information about your company - registered office, directors, people with significant control (PSCs), shareholders and SIC codes. It replaced the old annual return in 2016.

• You must file at least once every 12 months (the "review period").
• You have 14 days after the review period ends to file it.
• Every company - including dormant and non-trading companies - must file one, even if nothing has changed.

The fee is £50 online or £110 on paper, paid once per 12-month payment period. Sources: filing your confirmation statement and the Companies House fees table.

Not filing is a criminal offence: you can be fined up to £5,000 and the company can be struck off the register.

Corporation Tax and the CT600

Corporation Tax is HMRC's, not Companies House's, and runs on your accounting period (normally the same 12 months as your accounts):

• Pay the Corporation Tax 9 months and 1 day after the accounting period ends, for companies with profits up to £1.5 million. Source: pay your Corporation Tax bill.
• File the Company Tax Return (CT600) within 12 months of the accounting period ending. Source: Company Tax Returns.

Larger companies (profits over £1.5 million) pay by quarterly instalments instead. For the Corporation Tax rate that applies to your profit - the 19% small profits rate, 25% main rate and the marginal relief band between them - see our Corporation Tax rates guide and marginal relief guide.

Late filing penalties

Late accounts trigger an automatic Companies House penalty, scaled by how late you are. For a private company:

How late	Penalty
Up to 1 month	£150
1 to 3 months	£375
3 to 6 months	£750
More than 6 months	£1,500

The penalty is doubled if your accounts are late two years in a row. Source: Companies House late filing penalties.

Late Corporation Tax carries separate HMRC consequences - interest on the unpaid tax plus penalties for a late return - so treat the HMRC and Companies House deadlines as independent.

Identity verification (new from November 2025)

Under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, identity verification at Companies House became mandatory from 18 November 2025, with a 12-month transition period. In practice:

• Existing directors verify their identity at the point they file their next confirmation statement during the transition.
• Roughly 6 to 7 million people are expected to verify by around mid-November 2026.
• Not verifying on time is an offence that can lead to prosecution or a financial penalty.

Source: Companies House identity verification rollout. Because the transition is still running, check the current gov.uk guidance for your specific verification deadline.

Keeping it manageable

The simplest way to stay compliant is to set calendar reminders a month before each deadline and to keep your registered office and email address current so Companies House reminders reach you. If you are weighing up whether the company structure is still worth the admin, see sole trader vs limited company, and if you are a director planning your own pay, our optimum director salary and salary vs dividend optimiser tools work through the tax-efficient split.