Company Formation

No. The price you see on each package is the full amount, including the £100 Companies House fee. Most company formation agents advertise a low headline price and add the £100 at checkout. We don’t. VAT is charged on the package price but not on the Companies House fee, so a £102.99 Digital Package is £102.99 plus VAT on £2.99. The £39.99 All Inclusive with Accounting Package works differently: you pay £39.99 today and we cover the £100 fee, because the package includes a 12-month accounting subscription at £49 +VAT per month, with nothing to pay for the first month. Any optional extra is shown separately at checkout before you pay. See the full breakdown on our pricing page.

Here is how the four packages compare. Digital (£102.99): company registration only, with a free bank account referral and your documents by email. Choose it if you already have a UK address you’re happy to put on the public register. Privacy (£117.99): adds our Covent Garden registered office, service address and business address for 12 months, so your home address stays private. All Inclusive (£139.99): adds our Hassle-Free Compliance Service, VAT registration and 450+ business document templates. All Inclusive with Accounting (£39.99 plus £49 +VAT per month): everything above, plus ACCA-qualified accountants, Xero software and your year-end accounts and Corporation Tax return filed for you. Still unsure? Compare all packages side by side.

Companies House charges £100 to register your company and provides nothing else. No address privacy, no bank account, no one to call if your application is rejected, and no help with the filings that start the day your company exists. Our packages include the same £100 fee, add the services a new company actually needs, and come with free support for the lifetime of your company. Our All Inclusive with Accounting Package costs £39.99 up front, less than the Companies House fee on its own, and includes three London address services including a registered office, your confirmation statement filed each year, and an accountant from day one. We handle your Companies House identity verification as part of the process, too. Read the full comparison: 1st Formations vs Companies House.

Legally, no. In practice, almost every limited company has one, and the best time to appoint one is the day the company is formed. Your filing deadlines run from your incorporation date, not your first sale. You must file annual accounts with Companies House and a Corporation Tax return with HMRC every year, and late accounts attract penalties from £150 to £1,500. An accountant also sets up how you pay yourself, which decides how much tax you and the company pay, and that needs doing before any money moves. Our Accounting Service costs £49 +VAT per month, includes Xero, and is run by ACCA-qualified accountants in London. It is available only through our company formation service.

Not if you use our address services. Companies House publishes your company’s registered office address and a correspondence address for every director and PSC. If you enter your home address for either, it is visible to anyone who searches the register. Our Privacy, All Inclusive, All Inclusive with Accounting and Non-Residents Packages include 12 months of our Covent Garden registered office and service address, so our address appears instead of yours. You still give Companies House your residential address, but it is held on a protected record and never published. Statutory mail that arrives for you is scanned and emailed the same day. See the Privacy Package.

Yes, free of charge, as part of your company formation. Identity verification is now a legal requirement for every director and person with significant control. 1st Formations is an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP), which means Companies House has approved us to verify identities and submit filings on behalf of our clients. We run the check online during your application, usually in a few minutes, and obtain your Companies House personal code for you if you don’t already have one. Once your company is registered, you appear as verified on the public register, and your code is stored securely in your account for every future filing. We are also supervised by HMRC for anti-money laundering purposes. See our ID requirements.

Company formation is the process of registering a new company at Companies House so it exists as a legal entity in its own right, separate from the people who own and run it. It is also called company registration or incorporation. To form a company you choose a name, appoint at least one director, allocate at least one share, give a UK registered office address and submit the application to Companies House. Once approved, the company receives a registration number and a certificate of incorporation, and it can trade, own assets, sign contracts and employ staff in its own name. Using a formation agent like 1st Formations, the application takes about 15 minutes and most companies are registered within 24 hours. What is company formation? A full guide.

A company formation agent is a business authorised to submit company registrations to Companies House on behalf of its clients. Agents file electronically through a direct link to the Companies House system, which is why applications submitted through an agent are usually approved faster than paper filings. A good agent does more than file the form. It checks your company name is available, explains the choices you make during the application, provides a registered office address, introduces you to business banks and supports you with the filings that follow incorporation. Since 2025, the best agents are Authorised Corporate Service Providers (ACSPs), approved by Companies House to verify identities. 1st Formations is an ACSP and the UK’s largest formation agent, with more than a million companies formed. Why company formations are rejected, and how an agent prevents it.

A limited company is the right choice for most people who expect to earn more than a modest income from their business or who want to protect their personal assets. A sole trader and their business are the same legal person, so if the business owes money, the individual owes it. A limited company is a separate legal entity. Its debts are its own, and your liability is limited to what you paid for your shares. Limited companies are also taxed differently. Profits attract Corporation Tax, and you take money out as salary and dividends, which is usually more tax-efficient once profits pass a certain level. Clients, lenders and suppliers also tend to see a limited company as more established. The trade-off is more admin: annual accounts, a confirmation statement and a Corporation Tax return every year. Sole trader vs limited company.

A private company limited by shares is right for almost every business that intends to make a profit, and it is what most people mean by a limited company. It has shareholders who own it and directors who run it, and it can pay dividends. A company limited by guarantee has no shares and no shareholders. Members guarantee a fixed sum, usually £1, towards its debts. It is the standard structure for charities, clubs, community groups and other not-for-profit organisations. A limited liability partnership (LLP) is for two or more people running a business together as partners, typically professionals such as solicitors, accountants and consultants. Profits are shared between the partners and taxed as their personal income. 1st Formations registers all three. Limited company packages · Limited by Guarantee · LLP.

Your company name must be unique at Companies House and must end in Limited or Ltd. Both suffixes mean the same thing, so the choice is a matter of style. Companies House rejects names that are the same as, or too similar to, an existing company, and it refuses names that are offensive. Some words need permission before you can use them. These include words that suggest a link to government or royalty, such as British, Royal or Chartered, and words tied to regulated professions, such as Bank, Dentist or Architect. You should also check the UK trademark register, because a free company name can still infringe someone’s trademark. Use our name checker before you start; it searches the Companies House register in real time and tells you whether your name is available. Guide to choosing a company name.

Anyone aged 16 or over who is not disqualified from acting as a director and is not an undischarged bankrupt. Every company must have at least one director who is a natural person, and there is no upper limit. You don’t need to live in the UK, hold British nationality or have any qualifications. Another company can be appointed as a director, provided there is at least one individual director as well. Directors are legally responsible for running the company, keeping its records, filing its accounts and confirmation statement on time and acting in its best interests. Every director must now verify their identity with Companies House, which we handle for free as an ACSP when you form your company with us. What does a company director do?

At least one share per shareholder, and in practice a round number that is easy to divide. A company must issue a minimum of one share, and every shareholder must hold at least one. Most new companies issue between 1 and 100 ordinary shares at £1 each. If you are the only shareholder, one share gives you 100% of the company and 100 shares does exactly the same, so the number doesn’t matter yet. If there are two or more of you, pick a number that lets you split ownership the way you intend: 100 shares for a 60/40 split, for example. It is easier to issue more at the start than to issue new shares later, which needs a Companies House filing. Shareholders are liable for the unpaid value of their shares, so keep nominal values low. How many shares should I issue?

Yes, as many as you need, at no extra cost. There is no legal maximum on the number of directors or shareholders a UK company can have. During your application you add each person, enter their details and allocate their shares in whatever proportions you choose. The same person can hold both roles. Anyone who owns more than 25% of the shares or voting rights is a person with significant control (PSC) and must be reported to Companies House, which our application handles for you. Every director and PSC must verify their identity, and we do that for each of them free of charge. If you are unsure how to structure ownership, start simple and change it later with a share transfer or new issue. What are shareholders and shares?

A registered office is your company’s official address. A service address is the official address of a person: a director, shareholder or PSC. Both appear on the public Companies House register, and both can be the same address. Companies House and HMRC send the company’s statutory mail to the registered office and send a director’s personal statutory mail to their service address. If you use your home for either, it is published for anyone to see. 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ is our own head office, staffed by our in-house mail team. Use it for both and your home address stays off the register, your company has a central London address, and every official letter is scanned and emailed to you the day it arrives, free of charge. Company addresses explained.

Our in-house mail team opens, scans and emails it to you the same working day, and uploads a PDF copy to your Online Company Manager so you have a permanent record. With the Registered Office Service, that covers statutory mail addressed to the company from Companies House, HMRC, the courts and other government bodies, at no charge. With the Service Address, it covers statutory mail addressed to you personally as a company officer, in the same way. If you also want customer, supplier and bank mail handled, our Business Address Service scans and emails that too, at £0.50 per item. Items that can’t be scanned, such as parcels, bank cards and cheques, are forwarded by post at cost plus 15%. Registered Office Service.

There is no law that says a limited company must have its own bank account, but you should open one before you trade. A limited company is a separate legal person, and its money is not your money. Running company income and expenses through a personal account makes your bookkeeping unreliable, complicates your Corporation Tax return and can breach your bank’s terms. Many banks close personal accounts used for business. A dedicated account also makes paying yourself a salary or dividend simple and gives you a clean record if HMRC ever asks. Choose one of 10 business bank accounts during your application and we introduce you as soon as your company is registered. Do I need a business bank account?

Your Certificate of Incorporation, Memorandum and Articles of Association, Share Certificates and WebFiling Authentication Code, are all delivered by email as PDFs as soon as Companies House approves your application. The certificate shows your company name, registration number and date of incorporation, and banks will ask to see it. The articles are the rules your company runs by. The authentication code lets you log in to Companies House directly to file changes. Every document is also stored in your Online Company Manager, so you can download it whenever you need it. We deliver everything digitally and do not post printed documents. See what each package includes.

Four things, in roughly this order. First, open a business bank account; if you chose one during your application, the bank will contact you. Second, register for Corporation Tax with HMRC within three months of starting to trade. HMRC posts your company’s Unique Taxpayer Reference to the registered office within a few weeks of incorporation. Third, decide whether to register for VAT. It is compulsory once taxable turnover passes the threshold and optional before that. Fourth, note your filing dates. Your first confirmation statement is due within 14 days of the anniversary of incorporation, and your first accounts are due 21 months after it. Our Accounting Service and Hassle-Free Compliance Service handle all of this for you. Annual filing requirements explained.

Three filings every year, whether or not the company trades. A confirmation statement goes to Companies House at least once every 12 months and confirms the details on the register are correct; the filing fee is £50. Annual accounts go to Companies House within nine months of your financial year end. A Corporation Tax return goes to HMRC within 12 months of the year end, and any tax owed is paid within nine months and one day. Late accounts attract an automatic penalty of £150, rising to £1,500 after six months, and persistent failure can lead to the company being struck off. Our Hassle-Free Compliance Service files your confirmation statement, and our Accounting Service prepares and files your accounts and Corporation Tax return.

Most mistakes can be put right after your company is registered, and our support team is free for the lifetime of your company if you need help doing it. Director and shareholder details, the registered office address, SIC codes and the company name can all be changed by filing the right form with Companies House. Two things cannot be changed: the company registration number and the date of incorporation. If Companies House rejects your application, it tells us why, we resubmit at no extra charge. If you would rather have an expert check your application before it is submitted, our optional Pre-Submission Review is available at checkout. Company changes we can file for you.

Yes. A dormant company is one that has been registered but has had no significant financial transactions. People form them to protect a company name, to hold property or shares, or to have a company ready for a business they plan to start later. You register it exactly as you would a trading company. Choose SIC code 99999 (dormant company) in your application, and once HMRC sends your Unique Taxpayer Reference, write to tell them the company is not trading so they don’t expect a Corporation Tax return. A dormant company still has to file a confirmation statement and dormant accounts with Companies House every year. We can prepare and file both. Dormant Company Accounts Service.

No. You can form a UK limited company from almost anywhere in the world without visiting the UK. Companies House requires a registered office in the UK, at least one director aged 16 or over, and identity verification for every director and PSC. It does not require any of them to be UK residents. Our Non-Residents Package includes a London registered office and service address, scanned mail, identity verification handled for you, and a referral to Revolut Business, Wise or Payoneer for a UK business account that supports multiple currencies. We form companies for customers in most countries; a small number are not eligible, and the list is on the package page. Non-Residents Package.