A Scottish limited company is a limited company that has been incorporated in Scotland and has a Scottish registered office address.
On this post, we discuss what a Scottish limited company is, outline the steps required to form a limited company in Scotland, and explain how this differs from organising an organization in other parts of the UK.
What’s a Scottish limited company?
The jurisdiction (e.g. country) through which a limited company is incorporated determines its ‘nationality’, so to talk. It also dictates where an organization’s registered office address have to be situated. Subsequently, if a limited company is registered in Scotland, it’s a Scottish limited company and it must use a Scottish address as its registered office.
A Scottish limited company is incorporated under the Companies Act 2006, like all firms within the UK. It is because the UK has a simple, unified company formation system that covers the three legal jurisdictions of Scotland, England & Wales, and Northern Ireland.
In consequence, the identical incorporation process and rules apply to all UK firms, no matter which jurisdiction they’re registered in. They’re all regulated by the Firms Act 2006, registered in the identical way, and subject to the identical legal requirements.
Nevertheless, whilst the UK has a unified company law regime, firms are also subject to the distinct laws of the jurisdiction through which they incorporate. Because of this a Scottish limited company is subject to Scots law, so any litigation regarding the company’s actions will probably be handled by the Scottish courts.
The way to register a Scottish limited company
You may register a Scottish limited company online through an organization formation agent like Rapid Formations. It only takes about five minutes to finish our easy online application form. Furthermore, our team of company formation experts is readily available to supply help and guidance every step of the way in which.
To make the method as quick and straightforward as possible, we created a bespoke Scottish Package with a prestigious Glasgow registered office address and repair address. This is right for anyone who wants to establish a limited company in Scotland, protect their privacy, and boost their corporate image.
To register a Scottish limited company, simply follow the 4 steps outlined below.
Step 1: Select an organization name
When selecting an organization name, you need to abide by certain company name rules and regulations. Your organization name must not:
- be similar to, or too like, the name of one other company
- include any restricted or ‘sensitive’ words and expressions
- be offensive or contain any words prone to cause an offence
- suggest any reference to the UK government or a devolved administration, local authority, or specified public authority
- include prohibited characters, signs, symbols, and punctuation
Moreover, you might be legally required to incorporate ‘Limited’ (or ‘Ltd’) at the tip of your organization name, unless you might be organising a limited by guarantee company and are exempt from this requirement.
To search out out in case your ideal company name is accessible, use the corporate name checker on our homepage. It will inform you if it’s available to register or if you should use a unique name.
Step 2: Select our Scottish Package
Our bespoke Scottish Package has been specifically designed for individuals who wish to form a limited company in Scotland. This package costs only £29.99 + VAT and provides every little thing you should arrange a ready-to-trade Scottish limited company, including:
- Glasgow Registered Office Service (free for 12 months)
- Glasgow Service Address (free for 12 months)
- Company formation documents (certificate of incorporation, memorandum & articles of association, and share certificates)
- Company register with first entries (maintaining an organization register is a legal requirement)
- Minutes of the primary board meeting
- Filing of your first confirmation statement
- Free business checking account from one in every of our banking partners
- Free .com or .co.uk domain name in your company website and emails
- Firms House incorporation fee of £12.00
- Free telephone support for the lifetime of your organization
- Free Online Client Portal to administer your organization details and statutory filing requirements
Step 3: Add optional extras and take a look at
Before you pay in your package and complete your organization formation application, you’ll have a possibility so as to add optional extras to your order, including:
- Introduction to an accountant, with a free initial consultation
- Pre-Submission Review – we’ll thoroughly review your order to cut back the danger of mistakes and delays
- Glasgow Business Address with mail forwarding
- Business Telephone Services – call answering and/or your personal number (020 London or 0141 Glasgow)
- Full Company Secretary Service – to help with corporate compliance and company filings
- VAT and PAYE registrations – we’ll process your VAT and/or PAYE registration with HMRC in your behalf
- GDPR Compliance Package – get monetary savings on legal fees with our GDPR Compliance Package, including all documents and templates
- Apostilled Document Service – legalise an organization document for overseas use
- 12-month Cancellation Protection – we’ll close your organization when you now not need it
Simply select any items or services you’d wish to add to your order and proceed to checkout. When you’ve paid in your order, you’ll complete the web application form to register a Scottish limited company.
Step 4: Enter your recent company details
This final step is to finish our online application form. To do that, you will want to enter the next details about your recent company:
- Company name – the name you select in Step 1 of the corporate formation process will probably be mechanically added to the applying form. Check that the spelling and letter case is correct, and be certain that either ‘Limited’ or ‘Ltd’ is included at the tip of the name.
- Business activity – on this section, you will probably be asked to supply a Standard Industrial Classification code (SIC code) to explain your organization’s business activity. You may select as much as 4 codes if required. Our application form features a SIC code search facility, but you can even find your organization’s SIC code(s) beforehand by searching the SIC code list.
- Director’s details – you will want to appoint at the very least one director. That is the one that will manage the corporate. The identical person is usually a director and a shareholder, so you possibly can appoint yourself and/or other people to each positions.
- Shareholder’s details – you will want to appoint at the very least one shareholder. That is the one that will hold shares and own the corporate. The identical person is usually a shareholder and a director, so you possibly can appoint yourself and/or other people to each positions.
- Share capital – you need to issue a minimum of 1 share per shareholder. Our guide to shares explains every little thing you should learn about shares and share capital.
- Individuals with significant control (PSCs) – the shareholders of an organization are normally also the people with significant control. A PSC is a person who holds a certain percentage of shares and/or voting rights in the corporate and/or has the ability to remove a majority of the corporate’s directors.
Our application form explains in easy terms what details you should provide and why. Nevertheless, if you should discover more about the small print you’ll have to should hand, take a take a look at our support page on the Required Information to Form a Company
Once you’ve entered this information on the applying form, you possibly can select a business checking account (optional). Our staff will then send your application to Firms House for approval. Typically, firms are registered inside 3 to six business hours.
Within the unlikely event that Firms House rejects your application, we’ll inform you immediately and enable you to to rectify the issue. We’ll then resubmit your application at no additional cost.
When your application is approved, you’ll receive digital copies of your organization formation documents. This features a certificate of incorporation, memorandum and articles of association, and a share certificate for every shareholder. Your Scottish limited company is then ready to start out trading.
Difference between a Scottish company and an English company
The one differences between a Scottish limited company and an English limited company are:
- the placement of the corporate’s registered office address, and
- the UK jurisdiction that the corporate is incorporated in
Scottish limited firms are incorporated within the UK jurisdiction of Scotland, with a registered office address situated in Scotland. English limited firms incorporate within the UK jurisdiction of England & Wales, with a registered office address situated in England or Wales.
Can a Scottish company have a registered office address abroad?
A Scottish limited company cannot have a registered office address abroad. While you arrange a Scottish limited company, you need to maintain a registered office in Scotland in the course of your organization’s existence.
Nevertheless, you don’t should keep the identical registered office address perpetually. You may change it every time you want and as often as you want, on the condition that you just all the time use a Scottish address.
Moreover, you might be under no obligation to maintain your organization’s business operations in Scotland. You may sell your services or products anywhere you want. You may open offices or branches of your online business in several parts of the UK or overseas. In reality, you don’t even should live in Scotland.
Similarly, the director’s service address (also referred to as the correspondence address) may be situated anywhere on the earth. There isn’t any legal requirement to make use of a Scottish address as your service address.
Able to arrange a limited company in Scotland?
Should you’re able to arrange a Scottish limited company for a recent or existing business, we’re here to assist. We now have made the method as effortless and reasonably priced as possible by providing a bespoke Scottish Package with company address services and a straightforward online application form.
Furthermore, our skilled team of UK company formation experts is readily available 24/7 to reply questions, provide free tailored advice and guidance, and take you step-by-step through all the process. We are able to even arrange an organization for you over the phone.
Should you would really like to seek out out more or need assistance to form a Scottish limited company, call our Customer Service Team on 020 7871 9990 or contact us online. You can even comment below with any questions you’ve.
