What is Companies House identity verification?

Identity verification is a new legal requirement under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. All company directors and PSCs must verify their identity to receive a Companies House personal code.

How much does identity verification cost?

Digital verification starts from £39, with video call verification available from £49. We also offer in-person verification from £59 and priority same-day service at £99.

How long does verification take?

Most digital verifications are completed within 24 hours. The actual identity check takes just 5-10 minutes.

What documents do I need?

For digital verification, you need a biometric passport or UK driving licence. For video call and in-person verification, a wider range of documents is accepted including national ID cards.

UK-regulated verification agent · supervised under MLR 2017

Guernsey entities and UK property — the Register of Overseas Entities position

Guernsey companies and unit-trust structures are long-standing holders of UK property. Every Guernsey entity that owns — or wants to buy — qualifying UK property must be on the Companies House Register of Overseas Entities with a valid OEID, its beneficial owners verified by a UK-regulated agent. We handle the registration, the annual update statement and the verification behind both.

Free two-minute check & instant quote

No account, no obligation. Standard cases — late registrations included — see an itemised quote immediately.

MLR 2017–supervised agent

Owners verified remotely, worldwide

ACCA-regulated accountancy practice

TaxStats ID is an independent service by TaxStats Ltd — we are not Companies House, GOV.UK or any government body.

How Guernsey structures meet the ROE

Guernsey companies

A Guernsey-incorporated company owning UK property registers as the overseas entity with its registrable beneficial owners disclosed and verified — the standard case.

GPUTs and Guernsey trustees

Where UK property is held through a Guernsey Property Unit Trust or by Guernsey corporate trustees, the trustee companies are the registered owners and it is they who register — on the paper route, because a trust sits in the structure.

Protected cell companies

A PCC is a single legal entity even where property sits in a particular cell — the company registers once, as itself. How cells and their investors feed the beneficial-owner analysis is exactly the kind of question we work through before filing.

Doesn't Guernsey already have a beneficial-ownership register?

Guernsey keeps its own register of beneficial ownership, which is not public. As with the other Crown Dependencies, that register does not satisfy the UK obligation: the Register of Overseas Entities requires its own filing and its own verification by a UK MLR 2017–supervised agent.

What we handle for Guernsey entities

The whole UK side, online: first registration and the OEID (including entities registering late), the annual update statement with its deadline tracked year after year, and the statutory beneficial-owner verification behind both — each owner verified remotely by smartphone, wherever they are, within the three-month window before filing.

Trust structures and protected-status owners are filed on the correct Companies House paper route from the start. The free check asks the questions that decide all of this and shows standard cases an itemised quote immediately.

Guernsey entities — ROE FAQ

Yes. A Guernsey company holding a qualifying UK property interest — England and Wales freeholds or leases over seven years acquired on or after 1 January 1999, Scottish land from 8 December 2014, Northern Ireland from 1 August 2022 — must hold a valid Overseas Entity ID, and a buyer needs one before completion.

The PCC is one legal entity, so it registers once as itself, even where the UK property sits in a specific cell. The beneficial-owner analysis then works through who owns or controls the company and, in practice, the relevant cell — a structure-specific question we resolve before filing.

The trustee companies — as the legal owners of the property — register as the overseas entities, with the trust disclosed in the filing. Trust structures cannot use the online service and file on paper; we prepare and route the filing correctly.

Yes. Guernsey’s register is a domestic obligation and is not public; the UK Register of Overseas Entities is a separate, public UK requirement whose verification must be carried out by a UK-supervised agent. Both apply.

No — verification is fully remote. Each beneficial owner completes an identity check by smartphone wherever they are; we complete the statutory checks as the UK MLR 2017–supervised agent and confirm them to Companies House, within the three-month window before filing.

Updated 29 August 2026 · By the TaxStats ID Register of Overseas Entities team · About our ROE verification agent service

Get the Guernsey entity compliant

Two minutes, free, no account. The check confirms what the entity needs — registration, late registration or this year's update statement — and shows an itemised quote straight away.

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