What Are The Registration Requirements Of A Private Limited Company?

The Register of Companies is maintained at Companies House and there are a number of ways to incorporate a company. Companies House accepts applications directly from people who want to incorporate the business themselves and also via a company formation agent such as ourselves.

In order to register a private company limited by shares (which is the type that most start-up businesses use), you need to first make sure that you meet the initial requirements. The company must have:

• at least one director who is aged 16 or above;
• at least one share; and
• a registered office in the United Kingdom.

What you need to tell Companies House

When you register a company at Companies House, there are a number of pieces of information you need to give them. These include:

• the proposed name of the company. If there are any potential problems with your suggested name, it is advisable to address these at the beginning of the formation process;
• and address that will be the company's registered office;
• directors' details e.g. their names and addresses. Directors cannot give a Post Office box number, but must give their residential address for Companies House internal records. If directors do not want their home address to appear on public records, they must provide a service address where people can serve them with documents. However, this can be the company's registered office. They must also give their dates of birth.
• details of shareholders and the shares they have taken. Shareholders must give their names and addresses, and dated of birth. They must also give details of the shares that they have taken and how much they are worth. This is obviously confined to the amount they were worth when the shares were issued.

The forms involved

Form IN01 is the main application form containing most of the information above. The form must be submitted with copies of the constitutional documents of the company, which are the Articles of Association (the rulebook) and the Memorandum of Association.

This can be quite a complex and time consuming process to go through, especially if this is the first time you have formed a new company. That is why most people use formation agents such as ourselves.

We deal with the entire process for you and provide you with the documents you need, all you have to do is fill out our short online formation form which asks for the details of the main people involved in the company such as the directors and shareholders.

This ensures you will only need a few minutes of your time to get your new company registered and receive all the documents you will need.

Who else do you need to tell?

Once incorporated, the company will become liable to corporation tax, and will also have to deal with PAYE and National Insurance Contributions on behalf of its employees. If the company turns over more than the annual VAT threshold which varies between Budgets, it will also have to register for VAT.

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs will automatically be passed the details of the incorporation by Companies House for the purposes of corporation tax but it is best to notify them separately yourself, and seek professional advice about the different types of tax you need to pay.

Want to set up your company with our quick 4 minute application?