Yes, the Companies House confirmation statement fee is tax deductible. It’s an allowable business expense that reduces your company’s taxable profits in the year you pay it. The fee is £50 if you file online and £110 by post,1GOV.UK. Companies House Fees and the whole amount comes off your profit before corporation tax is calculated.
Why the Fee Qualifies
HMRC allows a deduction for costs incurred “wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade.”2HM Revenue & Customs. Business Income Manual – Wholly and Exclusively: Overview The rule for companies sits in Section 54 of the Corporation Tax Act 2009, which blocks any deduction with a non-business purpose.3Legislation.gov.uk. Corporation Tax Act 2009 – Section 54
The confirmation statement fee passes that test cleanly. Filing is a statutory obligation under Section 853A of the Companies Act 2006, and the fee is what it costs to comply.4GOV.UK. Filing Your Companys Confirmation Statement A company that doesn’t pay cannot legally stay on the register. That makes it a recurring revenue expense tied to keeping the business in existence, not a capital cost. It’s also outside the scope of VAT, so there’s nothing to reclaim on a VAT return.
Only the first confirmation statement in each 12-month review period carries a fee. If you file again during the same period to update details, Companies House does not charge a second time.
Recording the Payment
Pay the fee from the company bank account where you can. That produces a single, clearly labelled transaction linked to the Companies House payment confirmation. Keep the email receipt — it’s the primary evidence if HMRC ever asks.
In your books, the fee sits under administrative expenses, or legal and professional costs, depending on how your chart of accounts is set up. It then flows into the trading profit figure on your accounts and, from there, into your corporation tax computation. The CT600 has no dedicated box for it; the fee is simply part of the total expenses that reduce your profit.5HM Revenue & Customs. Completing Your Company Tax Return
If a Director Pays Personally
Directors often pay the £50 online fee on a personal card. The expense is still deductible, but the bookkeeping matters. Record the payment as a credit to the director’s loan account, treating it as money the director has lent the business. When the company reimburses the director, debit the loan account back to zero.6GOV.UK. Directors Loans: Overview Without that step, it’s harder to show the company actually incurred the cost.
Dormant Companies
Dormant companies must still file a confirmation statement and pay the fee, and Companies House confirms that paying it does not by itself break dormant status.7GOV.UK. Dormant for Companies House The deduction, though, has limited practical value while the company is dormant. With no trading income, there is no profit for the fee to offset, and a company that wasn’t carrying on a trade when the cost was incurred cannot normally carry that expense forward as a trading loss once it starts trading again.
The Cost of Skipping It
Not filing to save the fee is not a real option. Missing the deadline by more than 14 days is a criminal offence under Section 853L of the Companies Act 2006, with fines of up to £5,000 for the company and its officers.4GOV.UK. Filing Your Companys Confirmation Statement Companies House can also begin striking the company off the register.8GOV.UK. Striking Off or Dissolving a Limited Company Set against those consequences, £50 a year — reduced further by the corporation tax deduction — is one of the cheapest compliance costs a limited company faces.