The way to register an organization in 4 easy steps with 1st Formations

Registering an organization may sound like a fancy endeavour but it surely really isn’t. Now, due to the web, the method is a fast and straightforward one, with the time it takes to finish the vital online form being as little as 10 minutes. Then, once the applying has been sent to Firms House, applications are generally accepted inside a matter of hours.

On this post, we explain register an organization at Firms House in 4 easy steps, including what information you have to provide.

Key considerations when registering an organization

Before we jump in, there are two key questions you have to ask:

• What sort of company do you wish to register?
• How do you wish to register your organization?

What sort of company do you wish to register?

Within the UK there are five company types:

The preferred structure is the private company limited by shares.

The vital characteristic of one of these company is that the liability of the shareholders (the owners) is proscribed to the worth of the shares that they hold. This implies, if the corporate were to come across financial difficulties, the shareholders’ personal funds are protected.

For the needs of this post, we’re going to clarify register a non-public company limited by shares. When you do have any questions on any of the opposite structures, including register them, please see the links above or be at liberty to go away a comment on this post.

Before we go any further, it’s vital to know that a non-public company limited by shares could be registered with only one person.

How do you wish to register your organization?

You possibly can either register your organization directly with Companies House, or use a third-party, akin to an accountant or company formation agent, like us.

Firms Home is the UK’s regulatory body for firms. They’re tasked with:

The corporate registration service that Firms House offer may be very much stripped back and doesn’t provide any extras that an organization formation agent can.

For instance, to register an organization you could provide a registered office address.

Using a residential address is permitted but not beneficial, because the registered office address is placed on the general public register – meaning anyone can access the address online. This opens the business owner as much as unexpected visitors and potential ID fraud. Plus, by utilizing a residential address, the corporate may appear ‘small time’ or ‘amateur’.

An organization formation agent, akin to us, will typically allow customers to make use of their address as their registered office. Not only does this protect their residential address from the general public register, but it surely also helps the business make a solid, skilled impression.

That is just certainly one of the services that an organization formation agent can offer that Firms House can’t.

No matter who you register your organization with, the knowledge that you could provide is identical. Nevertheless, the method by which you provide this information will differ from platform to platform. We consider that we offer the only company registration service within the UK.

The way to register your limited company

Your complete company registration process is online and we now have broken this down into 4 easy steps:

1. Select an organization name
2. Select an organization registration package
3. Checkout
4. Enter your organization details

Let’s explore these steps in additional detail.

Step 1: Select an organization name

You almost certainly have a very good idea of the name that you want to to connect to your organization, so the very first thing it’s best to do is check its availability using our name search tool. It will immediately let you know if the name has already been taken, because it have to be unique.

The tool may even let you know in case your proposed name includes any ‘sensitive words or expressions’. It is a list (set out by Companies House) made up of words and expressions – that if used incorrectly in an organization name could mislead or harm the general public.

If your organization name does include any of those, you have to to upload supporting documentation to accompany your organization registration to prove that you simply do qualify to make use of the word or expression.

For instance, in case your proposed name included the word ‘Optician’, we might notify you that this was a sensitive word. You’d then have to seek written approval from the General Optical Council. In the event that they were to sign this off, you could possibly then upload their correspondence as a part of the corporate registration process.

See this post for more information: Sensitive words and expressions – what you have to know.

Whatever the company name you select, because you might be registering a non-public company limited by shares, your name must end in certainly one of the below.

• Limited
• Ltd
• Cyfyngedig (if your organization’s jurisdiction is in Wales)
• Cyf (if your organization’s jurisdiction is in Wales)

Whilst they’re interchangeable, you do get to decide on which version your organization is registered with.

Step 2: Select an organization registration package

Now that you simply’ve picked an organization name that’s available, the subsequent step is to decide on the corporate registration package that’s best for you.

We provide seven limited by share packages: [Graeme, I’ve quoted the prices without the special offers, not sure if you agree with that.]

All of the packages offer you the core company registration, the difference is in the extra extras.

We’ve already mentioned the registered office address service, whereby you should utilize our address as your organization’s registered office. When you purchase the ‘Privacy’ package, you’ll be able to team this with our Director’s Service Address – this lets you also use our address because the official address for one company director. This then ensures that the director’s address is wholly shielded from the Firms House register.

You could need additional services on top of address protection, akin to the preparation and filing of your organization’s first confirmation statement, VAT registration, or perhaps a Full Company Secretary Service. Our ‘All Inclusive’ package includes all of those.

It’s price mentioning that each one of our packages include the choice to open a business checking account with the UK’s leading banking providers, including Barclays, Monzo, NatWest, and Tide to call just just a few.

You may even notice that we provide a ‘Non-Residents’ package. This is ideal if you wish to form an organization but live outside of the UK, because it includes all of our address services, plus the choice to open a Clever UK Business Banking account.

When you’re struggling to decide on your package,  you should utilize our online ‘Package Selector Tool’. All you have to do is answer a handful of basic questions on your organization and the sorts of services that you simply’re in search of – we’ll then recommend the package (or packages) that suits your requirements.

Step 3: Checkout

Just before you make payment, you might have the choice so as to add some more additional services to your basket. For instance, you might need a guarantee that your organization is formed on the identical day as you make the order, by which case you’ll be able to pick up the ‘Guaranteed Same-Day Service’ for under £29.99.

Whenever you’re ready, provide us along with your name, password to your recent account with us, and your billing information. None of that is applied to the main points to your company, it’s simply a requirement to open your account with us.

You possibly can then complete the payment. We accept Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, and American Express.

Step 4: Enter your organization details

That is where you provide the vital information to get your organization registered at Firms House. When you’re forming the corporate alongside another person, the next section will act as a handy checklist when collecting the non-public information that you simply require.

This a part of the post directly refers to our own company registration process, but the knowledge outlined here can be relevant no matter who you register your organization with.

Your organization’s ‘Particulars’

You have to provide the next information to your recent company:

Company Name

Whilst you’ll have already got provided your organization name, you do get a likelihood to alter it here. This can also be where you select to make use of ‘Limited’, ‘Ltd’, ‘Cyfyngedig’, or ‘Cyf’.

If your organization name included any sensitive words or expressions, it’s on this page that we’ll notify you of who you would like approval from. This can also be the step at which you’ll be able to upload this approval as and when it has been received.

Jurisdiction

That you must select your organization’s jurisdiction, which have to be certainly one of the next:

• England & Wales
• Wales
• Northern Ireland
• Scotland

The jurisdiction must match up with the situation of the corporate’s registered office. For instance, if the registered office is in:

• London – your jurisdiction have to be England & Wales
• Cardiff – you’ll be able to make a choice from England & Wales or Wales
• Belfast – your jurisdiction have to be Northern Ireland
• Glasgow – your jurisdiction have to be Scotland

SIC Codes

The Standard Industrial Classification code is a five-digit code that sets out the industry (or industries) by which your organization can be operating. You have to select at the very least one code from the SIC list provided, although you’ll be able to select as much as 4.

Try to be as accurate as possible when picking your SIC code(s) but don’t be too concerned when you feel you might have chosen the improper code as it may well be updated each time you file a confirmation statement.

The Registered Office Address

That is the official address of your recent business and where government bodies akin to Firms House, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), and the Infomation Commissioner’s Office (ICO) will send mail to your company. It’s also the situation where any court documentation can be sent.

You need to use any physical address within the UK as your registered office address provided that you might have permission from the owner.

As mentioned, you should utilize a residential address because the registered office address when you wish,  nonetheless, that does have quite a lot of downsides.

You don’t want to perform any business activity on the registered office. Nevertheless, you could have access to the official government mail that’s sent to the address.

It is feasible to alter the registered office address once the corporate has been registered, provided that the brand new registered office is in the identical jurisdiction. For instance, you could possibly move the registered office from London to Manchester, but you could possibly not move it to Belfast or Glasgow.

Director information

The director is the person tasked with the day-to-day running of the corporate. A non-public company limited by shares will need to have at the very least one person within the director role in any respect times, with no limit on the variety of directors that you might have at anybody time. Generally, the director may even be a shareholder (the person or individuals who own the corporate) – this is just not compulsory though.

For everybody being appointed as a director, you have to the next:

• Title
• Name (we recommend entering this because it appears on the person’s passport)
• Date of birth
• Nationality
• Occupation
• Service address (also often called the correspondence address) – this may be very very like the director’s version of the registered office, in that it’s placed on the general public register, so using a residential address is just not beneficial
• Residential address – this is just not placed on the general public register unless it’s getting used because the registered office address and/or service address

An organization may have a company director (for instance, one other company) provided that at the very least one person can also be acting because the director. For every corporate director you have to the next:

• Title of the authorising person from the company entity
• Name of the authorising person from the company entity
• The legal name of the company entity
• Address of the company entity
• The placement where the corporate was registered (if that is outside of the UK you may even need to offer the governing law and legal type of the entity)
• Registration number

In addition to each providing the vital information, every director will need to provide their consent to act as a director. This is completed by ticking a box in the course of the online process.

Shareholder information

Shareholders are the owners of the corporate. An organization will need to have at the very least one shareholder (this generally is a corporate shareholder when you wish, although the norm is for shareholders to be people). When multiple shareholder is appointed the variety of shares that they hold and the worth of those shares, define their ownership.

For instance, if an organization had two shareholders, each holding one share price £1, they might be 50%/50% owners of the corporate. Alternatively, if one shareholder had nine shares price £1 each, and one other shareholder had one share price £1, the ownership structure can be 90%/10%.

For everybody being added as a shareholder, you have to the next:

• Title
• Name (we recommend entering this because it appears on the person’s passport)
• Date of birth
• Nationality
• Occupation
• Residential address (not placed on the general public register)
• The reply to a few of those online signature questions:
• Mother’s maiden name
• Father’s forename
• Town of birth
• Telephone number
• National Insurance number
• Passport number
• Share information, including the category, quantity, currency, and price per share

For every corporate entity acting as a shareholder, you have to the next:

• Title of the authorising person from the company entity
• Name of the authorising person from the company entity
• The legal name of the company entity
• Address of the company entity
• The reply to a few of those online signature questions for the authorising person:
• Mother’s maiden name
• Father’s forename
• Town of birth
• Telephone number
• National Insurance number
• Passport number
• Share information, including the category, quantity, currency, and price per share

Person with significant control (PSC) information

All firms must now discover any individuals with significant control. That is any one that meets at the very least certainly one of the below criteria.

• Owns greater than 25% of the corporate’s shares
• Holds greater than 25% of the corporate’s voting rights.
• Holds the precise to appoint or remove the vast majority of directors.
• Has the precise to, or actually exercises significant influence or control.
• Holds the precise to exercise or actually exercises significant control over a trust or company that meets certainly one of the primary 4 conditions

In the vast majority of cases, this can be a shareholder. Within the rare instance that nobody qualifies as a PSC, you would wish to offer an organization statement accompanying the registration explaining that there are not any registerable PSCs.

For everybody with significant control you have to to offer the next:

• Title
• Name (we recommend entering this because it appears on the person’s passport)
• Date of birth
• Nationality
• Occupation
• Service address
• Residential address (not placed on the general public register)
• Information on the character of their control (for instance, they hold greater than 25% of the corporate’s shares)

It’s also possible for a company entity to be a PSC. If so to your company, you have to to offer the next:

• Title of the authorising person from the company entity
• Name of the authorising person from the company entity
• The legal name of the company entity
• Address of the company entity
• The placement where the corporate was registered (if that is outside of the UK you may even need to offer the governing law and legal type of the entity)
• Registration number
• Information on the character of its control (for instance, they hold greater than 25% of the corporate’s shares)

Secretary information

The secretary is an optional appointment. If one is appointed, the duty of the secretary is to make sure that the corporate stays up thus far with its filing responsibilities. If a secretary is just not appointed, this responsibility is taken on by the director(s). It is feasible for somebody to be a director, shareholder, secretary, and PSC.

For everybody being appointed as a secretary, you have to to offer the next:

• Title
• Name (we recommend entering this because it appears on the person’s passport)
• Date of birth
• Nationality
• Occupation
• Service address
• Residential address

You may as well appoint a company entity as a secretary when you wish. To do that you have to to offer the next:

• Title of the authorising person from the company entity
• Name of the authorising person from the company entity
• The legal name of the company entity
• Address of the company entity
• The placement where the corporate was registered (if that is outside of the UK you may even need to offer the governing law and legal type of the entity)
• Registration number

In addition to providing the vital information, every secretary will need to provide their consent to act as a secretary. This is completed by ticking a box in the course of the online process.

The articles of association

That is the document that outlines how the corporate goes to be operated, like an internal handbook for the inner workings of the corporate.

But don’t worry, you don’t should create your personal. Firms registered through our system are incorporated using a modified version of the model articles of association. When you would really like to create your personal (something we only advise if you might have skilled assistance) get in contact with a member of our team and we’ll assist you to upload these to your registration application.

Otherwise, all you have to do is indicate via the press of a button that you simply’re completely happy to your company to be registered using our prepared articles of association (these do suit the overwhelming majority of firms).

Your likelihood to choose up some Business Essentials

One among the key advantages of registering an organization with 1st Formations, fairly than directly with Firms House, is you can make the most of the varied (often exclusive) partner offers that we’ve curated for our customers.

When you’ve provided your organization details, you might have the possibility to opt-in to offers from banks, accounting software providers, and card acquiring services. We work with the next businesses:

Banking

• Anna
• Barclays
• Cashplus
• Mettle
• Monzo
• NatWest
• Tide
• Clever

Accounting software

Card acquiring

All you have to do is select who you’re interested by, you’ll then receive more information on redeeming the offer as soon as your organization has been formed.

Checking your application

The ultimate thing you could do is check over all the knowledge that you might have provided, ensuring there are not any typos or other mistakes.

When you do spot an issue, you’ll be able to return and fix the difficulty – otherwise, you’ll be able to send your organization registration application!

For added peace of mind, when you are concerned about making a mistake, we provide a ‘Pre-Submission Review’ service for under £4.99 (that is robotically added to your basket before you checkout but you might be welcome to remove this). With this service, an organization expert will review your application, in search of any mistakes. The applying will only be sent once we’re satisfied that it’s error-free.

Once an application has been sent to Firms House, we’ll normally have a response back from them inside 3-6 working hours. Within the rare occurrence that a registration is rejected, we’ll work with you to repair any issues. There isn’t any charge for this, neither is there a charge for resubmitting the applying.

Our ID requirements

We’re legally required to run ID checks on all account holders, Useful Owners (defined as any shareholder who’s to carry 25% or more of an organization’s share capital) or directors who intend to make use of our address as their service address at Firms House.

These checks are non-intrusive and will only take just a few seconds.

In some instances, we might have to gather proof of ID and proof of address documentation. Again, the method for collecting this information is amazingly quick – it should take not than 5 minutes.

We are going to email you the precise requirements as soon as your application has been submitted.  See the ID requirements section of our Quick Answers page for more information.

When your organization has been registered

We’ll email you as soon as your application has been accepted and your organization has been registered at Firms House. This email will include your key company information, akin to your organization number, company authentication code, and the memorandum and articles of association.

You may even have free and immediate access to the Online Company Manager, an important tool that lets you make changes to your organization, track vital due dates, and far more.

Concerning the public register

Whenever you register a limited company, a big portion of the knowledge that you simply provide – including the people related to it and the share capital – gets placed on the Firms House public register. That is to provide transparency to anyone seeking to work with the corporate.

That is unavoidable and the value the business owner pays for using this esteemed business structure.

Of the corporate details covered in ‘Step 4’ of this post, the one information that’s suppressed from the general public register is:

• Residential addresses (provided that a residential address has not been given because the registered office address or a service address)
• The day on dates of birth (month and 12 months are published)
• The answers to online signature questions
• Any personal information you might have provided us as a part of an extra service or partner offering

So there you might have it, register a limited company

We hope you might have found this post helpful.

When you are interested by registering a limited company, we’d like to assist you to do it. Take a take a look at our company registration packages, and please don’t hesitate to get in contact if you might have any questions.

Thanks for reading!