For your business to be legally recognized as a business in the United Kingdom (UK), it must be registered. This article will walk you through the process of registering a UK company. The form of registration that you would need for your business is dependent on the size of your business, the number of shareholders, or legal owners. This is also very useful in calculating the right amount of taxes and the necessary deadline for your business
If you have read this far it means you are keen on taking your business idea to the next level. From our experience with business registration across several countries like the UAE, Estonia, Canada, South Africa, Germany and Nigeria, the first step is to put together the information you’ll need to register the company. This will include choosing a business structure, deciding your shareholders, and formalizing how the company will be run.
What We Covered In This Article
Why register a UK company
The UK is a great country that encourages and promotes entrepreneurship. This fact is attested to by the millions of self-employed company owners, sole traders, and freelancers who grace the country’s business environment.
Process to register a UK company
Choose a Company Structure And Name
Although, there are different types of company registration like sole trader, business partnership, and limited company registration. Most entrepreneurs who register a UK company, opt for the ‘private company limited by shares’ structure.
This business structure is an effective way of managing taxes. As a company director, you can draw some of your income from the company dividends and pay less income tax.
Personal assets – such as your house and car – are also protected by this business structure because they would not be at risk if the company gets into financial trouble.
Check Company Name Availability (UK)
After choosing the company structure, you need to come up with a suitable name for the business. Our rule for business names is to come up with something simple that truly represents your business and that can stick to the mind of your customers easily.
Also avoid company names that are hard to spell.
You have to check if your company’s name is available before you register a company in the UK.
Enter Your Company Information
When you register a UK company, most of the information provided is made publicly available. You may use your home address to register a UK company if you do not have a separate business address. But if you aren’t comfortable with your home address being made public, registration agents offer services that let you register your business using their address.
Your registered address is where Companies House and HMRC will send your mail. This must be a UK address.
Every company must have at least one director, and their personal details such as name, date of birth and residential address will be needed by Companies House.
As part of the process of registering your company in the UK, you have to allocate shares to your shareholder(s). If you are the only one who owns shares in the company, then you own 100% of the company. The easiest way is to allocate one share to each shareholder. Your company must have at least one shareholder, or ‘subscriber’.
Draft Memorandum and Articles of Association
The memorandum and articles of association document give a guideline on how your company will be run. Hence the company director(s), shareholder(s) and secretary need to agree on them before you register a UK limited company.
Submit Everything to Companies House
Limited companies must register their company at Companies House. The cost of this business registration with Companies House depends on several factors. Some of those factors are; was the registration completed online or by post, or if you require a same-day service.