The annual return, a fixture of the company reporting cycle for decades, is being replaced by a simpler ‘confirmation statement’.

The main impact of the change is that the confirmation statement will not require information that has not changed to be reconfirmed and the requirement to report details of ‘persons with significant control’ has been included.

In simple terms, a person with significant control is one who:

• owns more than 25 per cent of the company’s shares;
• controls more than 25 per cent of the company’s voting rights;
• has a right to appoint or remove a majority of the board of directors; or
• can exert significant influence or control (directly or indirectly) over the company.

There are a number of other minor changes and the information to be filed when a company is formed has been altered somewhat.

Guidance on the new confirmation statement can be found on the GOV.UK website.