Annual return filings across 41 jurisdictions

One yearly filing, fifteen different names and rules

Every jurisdiction that grants limited liability requires the corporation to confirm, at least once a year, that it still exists and to update the public record. The filing has different names in different places, annual return in Canada, annual report or statement of information in the US, confirmation statement in the UK, but the function is identical: tell the registry the corporation is still active and update the registered office, directors, and (in some jurisdictions) shareholder details.

Missing the filing has consistently severe consequences. In every jurisdiction surveyed below, persistent non-filing leads to administrative dissolution: the corporation loses its legal existence. Contracts become unenforceable in its name. Bank accounts are frozen. Suppliers and customers walk away. Investors won't invest. Revival is possible but slow and expensive, every missed return must be filed retroactively, often with late fees, before the corporation is reinstated. This page summarizes the filing each jurisdiction requires and the deadlines you should be tracking.

Choose your jurisdiction

Each guide covers what to maintain, where to keep it, who can inspect, and what happens if you don't.

Compare requirements across jurisdictions

The same artifact, different rules.

Common patterns and dangerous gotchas

Three patterns recur across every jurisdiction we cover:

• The annual return is separate from the tax return. Every single jurisdiction treats the corporate-registry filing as distinct from the income-tax filing. The fees go to different addresses, the contents differ, and the deadlines are usually not aligned. Conflating the two, assuming the accountant's tax filing handles the annual return, is the single most common way small corporations drift toward administrative dissolution.
• Deadlines are often anniversary-based, not calendar-aligned. CBCA and most provincial Acts tie the deadline to the corporation's incorporation anniversary. US states are split: some require fixed annual dates (May 1 in Florida, May 15 franchise tax in Texas), others use the anniversary. UK confirmation statements use the corporation's anniversary date.
• The grace period varies but is finite. Most jurisdictions allow 30-90 days past the deadline with a late fee. Beyond that, administrative dissolution begins. The exact timing differs, Florida dissolves in September if the May deadline is missed; Delaware allows much longer; Canada CBCA dissolves after three years of non-filing.