There are two ways to interpret the term ‘company registration documents’. Firstly, it will possibly mean the precise form that should be accomplished and sent to Corporations House to register an organization. Secondly, it will possibly be this manner plus the memorandum and articles of association, and the certificate of incorporation.
On this post, we’ll take a take a look at all of those documents. Let’s start.
What documents are required for company registration?
The essential company types can now be formed online (either directly with Corporations House or via an organization formation agent, reminiscent of ourselves).
For the needs of this post, we’re going to deal with the private company limited by shares structure. That is the most well-liked form of company within the UK, with the newest Companies House statistics highlighting that 93% of firms on the register are private limited firms (nonetheless, we have now named the Corporations House forms for all UK company types below).
To register a personal company limited by shares, you will want to finish the IN01: Application to register a company form (or the web equivalent). The data that you simply provide in this can then inform the memorandum and articles of association, and the certificate of incorporation. We’ll explore this in additional detail shortly. But first…
The Corporations House company registration documents
The memorandum and articles of association
The memorandum of association
This short document (only one page) is used to verify that the corporate’s subscribers – these being the very first set of shareholders in the corporate – have agreed to form an organization.
The document includes the below:
- Company name
- Name of every subscriber in the corporate
- Date of incorporation
- The next statement:
‘Each subscriber to this memorandum of association wishes to form an organization under the Corporations Act 2006 and agrees to develop into a member of the corporate and take a minimum of one share each’.
The memorandum of association is robotically drawn up upon the incorporation of the corporate using the data provided in ‘Part 9’ of the IN01 form – or the web equivalent.
Here’s what the memorandum of association looks like:
The articles of association
In comparison with the memorandum of association, the articles of association is a more complex document. Its purpose is to stipulate how an organization goes to be managed and will cover all the below:
- Decision making in the corporate
- Responsibilities, rights, and liabilities of shareholders
- Responsibilities of directors
- Share issues (for instance, how shares may be issued and transferred)
- Profit distribution
- How directors may be appointed and removed
You’ll have the choice to make use of the Corporations House model articles of association (these are appropriate for many small businesses) or attach your personal. This feature is given in section A8 of the IN01 form or via a dedicated articles of association step for those who are completing the corporate registration online.
We recommend searching for the help of knowledgeable if writing your personal articles of association, as incorrect articles can lead to the registration application being rejected.
It is feasible to update an organization’s articles of association post-company formation.
Read the model articles of association here.
The certificate of incorporation
As soon as your organization has been formed, you’ll receive a digital certificate of incorporation (a few of our own company formation packages also include a printed copy that might be mailed to you).
This document is the official proof that your organization has been incorporated and incorporates the below information:
- Company number
- Company name
- Date of incorporation
Here’s what the certificate of incorporation looks like:
Find out how to retrieve your organization registration documents
Don’t worry if you might have misplaced your organization registration documents. Copies are easy – and free – to locate, no matter how your organization was formed.
If your organization was formed with us, you’ll have received an email shortly after incorporation from info@1stformations.co.uk with the topic line ‘1st Formations: Order Ref. xxxxxxx Order Fulfilment’.
This email includes PDF versions of the memorandum and articles of association and the certificate of incorporation. If you happen to can’t locate this email:
- Log in to your online company manager
- Select ‘My Corporations’
- Click on your organization name
- Click on the ‘Documents’ tab – you might be presented with an inventory of all of the available documents and given the choice to download them
If your organization was not formed by us, you’ll be able to as an alternative use the Corporations House ‘Search the register’ tool:
- Enter your organization name
- Click on the proper name from the list
- Click the ‘Filing history’ tab
- Scroll right down to the ‘Incorporation’ document (it should be the primary entry) and choose ‘View PDF’
- You might be presented together with your certificate of incorporation, accomplished IN01 form, and the articles of association
Are the corporate registration documents on the general public register?
Yes, as highlighted within the above steps for retrieving lost company registration documents, anyone can use the Corporations House search tool to view them.
Nevertheless, not all the data provided within the IN01 form (or the web equivalent) is published, reminiscent of the residential addresses of company directors.
We may help register your limited company
Are you seeking to form an organization? We provide a variety of company formation packages designed to get your organization up and running as quickly as possible.
We provide packages dedicated to starting all of the essential company and partnership types, including private firms limited by shares (including a package for non-UK residents), private firms limited by guarantee, public limited firms, and limited liability partnerships.
Our online incorporations include all the corporate registration documents mentioned on this post, in addition to other useful features that make starting your recent business easy. See the below links for more information:
Thanks for reading
We hope you now have an intensive understanding of the UK company registration documents. Please get in contact via a comment if you might have any questions related to those documents or company registrations typically and we’ll be joyful to assist.
