That distinction is not pedantry, and it is the reason this page starts with it.
Search for "Jersey annual return" today and most of what comes back is out of date — old firm guidance, old templates, old reminders, all describing a filing that no longer goes by that name. Some of it also carries fee figures from whichever year it was written. If you are working from that material, you are working from a document nobody has revisited.
The filing you owe is the annual confirmation statement. If a bookkeeper, director or agent is still calling it the annual return, it is worth asking when they last checked.
Who has to file
Every company, foundation and partnership on the Jersey register. There is no size threshold and no exemption for being quiet.
Dormant companies are the ones that get caught. A company set up years ago for a project that never happened, or one left on the register after the trade was sold, still owes a confirmation statement every February. It has no bookkeeper watching it, no accountant with it in a deadline diary, and frequently no one who remembers it exists until a strike-off notice arrives at an old address.
What happens after 28 February
The consequences are sequential rather than one penalty, and the sequence is the useful thing to see.
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| By 11:59pm, 28 February | Annual confirmation statement due for every company, foundation and partnership on the register. |
| 1 March onwards | Late filing fees start and increase each month the statement stays outstanding. |
| Summer | The registry begins issuing strike-off notices to entities still not filed, and the fees step up again. |
| Within seven months of 28 February | The Registrar reviews every entity that has not filed a confirmation, dissolution or cancellation. |
| Autumn | Entities still outstanding face strike-off from the register. |
Two points that do not show up in the fee schedule.
Failing to file is an offence, not just a chargeable lapse. The Registrar can refer an entity to the Attorney General for prosecution, with a fine of up to £10,000. That route is not used for a statement filed three weeks late, but it exists, and it is the reason "we will get to it eventually" is a worse position than it feels like.
And strike-off is not a penalty you pay and move past. A struck-off company stops existing. Its assets can vest in the Crown, its bank accounts stop working, and getting it back is a fresh application with its own cost and its own wait. The late fee is the cheap end of this by a wide margin.
If you are late right now
File it. Today if the information is to hand, this week if it is not.
The statement itself is short — registered office, directors, shareholders, beneficial ownership details confirmed as current. For most small companies nothing has changed since last year and the filing takes minutes. The delay is almost never the form.
What actually holds people up is discovering that the register is wrong: a director who resigned and was never removed, a share transfer that was agreed but never recorded, a registered office that moved. You cannot confirm details you know to be inaccurate, so the correction has to happen first. That is the work, and it is worth starting before the fees compound rather than in the week the strike-off notice lands.
Where we come in
Our company secretarial service covers annual confirmation statements and keeping the statutory registers straight through the year, so February is a five-minute confirmation rather than an excavation.
One limit, stated plainly: we are not a licensed trust company business, so we do not provide registered office, nominee shareholders or company formation. Those are JFSC-regulated activities. If that is what you need, several firms in our directory of Jersey accountancy firms hold the relevant licence.
Tell us what is outstanding and we will tell you what it takes to clear it.
Common questions
Is it still called the annual return in Jersey?
No. Jersey replaced the company annual return with the annual confirmation statement. Most online guidance still says annual return, which is why the two names appear interchangeably in search results. The filing itself is made to the JFSC Companies Registry and the February deadline is unchanged.
When is the Jersey annual confirmation statement due?
By 11:59pm on 28 February each year. The deadline is fixed to the calendar, not to your company's financial year end, so every entity on the register files in the same window.
What happens if I miss the 28 February deadline?
Late filing fees apply immediately and increase each month the statement remains outstanding. Failure to file is also an offence, and the Registrar may refer an entity to the Attorney General for prosecution, carrying a fine of up to £10,000. Entities that never file are ultimately struck off the register.
Who has to file an annual confirmation statement?
Every company, foundation and partnership on the Jersey register. Dormant and non-trading companies are included — being inactive does not remove the obligation, and dormant companies are the ones most often struck off for forgetting.
What happens if my company is struck off?
A struck-off company ceases to exist as a legal entity. Its property can vest in the Crown, bank accounts become unusable, and restoring it is a separate application with its own cost and delay. Filing late is materially cheaper than restoring later.
General guidance for Jersey entities, not advice on your own position. Deadlines, fees and registry procedure are set by the JFSC and change — confirm the current position with the registry. Checked 12 September 2026.