IN01
Incorporation
The company exists from the date on the certificate. Every other deadline is measured from that date, not from the day you started trading.
Once, at the start
Cost of missing it: None, but a rejected application costs you the date
ManchesterNotebookSince 2026
Your company filesfive things a year.The belt does not stop.
Field notes from an accountant who files for people who have never set foot in the UK. Dates, forms, and what it cost when one of them slipped.
The filing year, stop by stop01 / 06
01
The whole year in one frame
A UK company is a schedule with a company attached. Five filings, two recipients, one order that never changes, whether or not you traded a single pound.
Two of them go to Companies House and are public the day they land. Two go to HMRC and stay private. The fifth is a payment, and it falls due three months before the return that works out how much it should have been.
Filings in a normal year5
Who receives themCompanies House, HMRC
Deadlines you choosenone
02
The date is not yours to pick
The review period ends 12 months after incorporation, and the confirmation statement is due within 14 days of that. Filing early does not buy time, it starts a new period from the day you filed.
The rest is counted the same way. The accounting reference date is the last day of the month you registered in, one year on, so a company formed on the 2nd and one formed on the 28th of the same month share a deadline and one of them has four extra weeks of bookkeeping.
Review period12 months
Window after it ends14 days
Who sets the dateCompanies House
Source: gov.uk, confirmation statement
03
The counter runs on its own
Late accounts cost 150 pounds up to one month, 375 to three, 750 to six and 1,500 after that. Companies House issues the penalty automatically and nobody rings first.
The figure doubles if the accounts were late the year before as well, and the notice arrives after the money is already owed. Corporation Tax runs a separate penalty regime at HMRC on top of this one, so one late year can produce two bills from two departments.
Up to 1 month late£150
More than 6 months£1,500
Late two years runningdoubled
Source: gov.uk, penalties for late filing
04
What actually leaves the building
Registered office, directors, people with significant control, SIC code and share capital. Once filed they are public, and the superseded version stays public next to the new one.
A confirmation statement can only change five of those. A new director, a change of registered office or a change of name each need their own filing, and people lose weeks assuming the annual statement sweeps everything up.
Published and permanentoffice, directors, PSC, SIC, capital
Collected but not publishedthe registered email
Fee to file online£50
Source: gov.uk, confirmation statement
05
The part nobody plans for
Persistent failure to send accounts or a confirmation statement gets the company struck off the register. Not fined again. Removed.
An appeal has to show the circumstances were out of your control. The published list of reasons that usually fail includes not knowing when or how to file, your accountant's fault, and the directors living or travelling overseas, which is the normal state of the people this notebook is written for.
Fine for no confirmation statementup to £5,000
Persistent failure to filestruck off
Appeal ground that failsdirectors live overseas
Source: gov.uk, penalties for late filing
06
Then it starts again
The review period resets the day after you file. Same calendar next year, same counter, and the only thing that changes is how much of it you saw coming.
The one lever you have is the date on the certificate. Everything after it is arithmetic, and the arithmetic is published. Put your own date in and the six dates come out.
Levers you control1, the incorporation date
Everything after itpublished arithmetic
The year on the belt
Five filings, two recipients, one order that never changes. Every rule below is quoted from GOV.UK with the page it came from.
CS01
Confirmation statement
The review period ends 12 months after the confirmation statement date on your last statement, or 12 months after incorporation if this is your first one. Filing early starts a new review period.
Within 14 days of the end of each 12 month review period
Cost of missing it: Fine of up to 5,000 pounds and the company can be struck off
AA
Annual accounts
Companies House sets the accounting reference date as the last day of the month you were registered in, one year later. Your first accounts therefore cover more than twelve months.
21 months after registration for the first set, then 9 months after each financial year end
Cost of missing it: 150, 375, 750 or 1,500 pounds depending on how late, doubled if you are late two years running
CT600
Company Tax Return
An accounting period for Corporation Tax cannot be longer than 12 months, so a first set of accounts that covers more than a year needs two returns.
12 months after the end of the accounting period
Cost of missing it: Separate HMRC penalty regime, on top of the Companies House one
CT PAY
Corporation Tax payment
The money is due three months before the return that works out how much it was. Small companies pay first and file second.
9 months and 1 day after the end of the accounting period
Cost of missing it: Interest from the day after the deadline
YOUR DATES
None of this starts on the same day for you
Every date above is measured from the certificate of incorporation, so two companies formed a month apart have nothing in common in the calendar. Put your own date in and read the six deadlines off.
The counter runs whether you look at it or not
Companies House issues a late filing penalty automatically. Nobody rings first, and the notice arrives after the money is already owed.
Up to 1 month late
£150
1 to 3 months late
£375
3 to 6 months late
£750
More than 6 months late
£1,500
The penalty doubles if accounts are late two years in a row. Filing late for long enough also gets the company struck off, which is a different and worse problem. Source: gov.uk/annual-accounts/penalties-for-late-filing
Work out your own dates
Put in the date on the certificate. The six deadlines that follow from it are calculated by the same rules Companies House and HMRC publish.
Dates are worked out from the published rules on GOV.UK, checked 2026-09-04. Companies House can move an accounting reference date on application, and a first Corporation Tax period longer than twelve months splits into two returns.
Four things that are different when you do not live here
Most guidance is written for a director with a UK driving licence and a UK address. These four are the ones that catch everybody else.
A biometric passport from any country is accepted
Identity verification runs through GOV.UK One Login. A biometric passport issued anywhere works. You verify once, get a personal code, and every director needs their own.
VAT registration is not optional at 90,000 pounds for you
If you are based outside the UK, your business is based outside the UK and you supply goods or services to the UK, you must register for VAT regardless of turnover. The 90,000 pound threshold is for UK established businesses.
An accountant or solicitor can verify you instead
An Authorised Corporate Service Provider can verify your identity on your behalf. That is the route when the One Login app cannot read your documents from where you are.
Your email address goes on the confirmation statement, not on the public register
Companies House needs a working email and expects you to read what it sends. The address itself is not published.
Send one situation and get the dates back
Incorporation date, filing history, and the question. You get the deadlines that apply to your company and the two or three places it usually goes wrong. No newsletter unless you tick the box.
From the notebook
Entries go up on the date shown. Each one is a filing, a date and what came back.
2026-09-04
The certificate fixes every date that follows
The date printed on the certificate of incorporation is not a formality. Every deadline the company will ever have is counted from it, including two you have not heard of yet.
2026-09-05
The registered office test that quietly fails
An address either passes two conditions or it does not. Getting this wrong is one of the few ways a company can be struck off without anything else going wrong.
2026-09-06
A director who lives somewhere else
Directors do not have to live in the UK. Almost everything else about being one is public, and since identity verification arrived, every director has to prove who they are.