30 July 2025
Table of contents
Table of contents
You’ve had a brilliant idea for a business and you can’t wait to get started. Great! The next step is registering it for tax and other reporting requirements.
If you decide to operate as a limited company, the registration process (known as incorporation) involves providing information to Companies House. In this article we talk about the incorporation process, and answer some of the most frequently asked questions about it.
The way you structure your business will impact how you pay tax, and potentially on how you access funding too. But registering your new business as a limited company isn’t your only option. You might also consider setting up as a sole trader or a limited liability partnership (LLP), for example, depending on the nature of your business, the amount of risk involved, and who else is involved in it with you.
So, the very first thing you need to do is to figure out what legal structure is going to be best for you.
Everyone’s different, so what looks like a benefit for one person might not be so appealing to someone else. Common reasons for choosing to register a business as a limited company include:
Yes, you can set up a limited company in which you’re the only director and shareholder.
It depends whether you register online or by post:
No, it isn’t compulsory to have an accountant set up your limited company for you, you’re allowed to do it yourself.
If you do already work with an accountant though, then it might be worth asking if this is a service they offer. Some accountants offer it as part of their usual fees! For instance, if you’re a sole trader who already has an accountant, they might handle incorporation for you.
Most accountants do this sort of thing day-in, day-out, so for them it’ll be a faster process, and one they’re more experienced in. They’ll also be able to offer your more insight about choosing a legal structure, structuring shares, appointing directors, financial management and planning, and other pointers such as tax efficiency and getting ready for Corporation Tax.
Now you have more context, let’s take a closer look at the steps involved in getting up and running as a limited company.
The following advice is taken from information from the official government website – a great resource to tap into if you need to explore any of the following topics in more depth.
This might be the fun part, but it still requires some careful consideration and thorough research. First and foremost, you need to make sure there are no other businesses out there with the same name or trademarks. If somebody else has already bagged your idea, you’ll need to go back to the drawing board.
Think you’ve got a name that’s original enough to pass the legal test? Make sure you’re up to speed on the rules around choosing a company name.
There are different guidelines for sole traders and business partnerships, so it’s important to be clear on which regulations you should be adhering to.
Directors are responsible for operating the company and ensuring it complies with the appropriate rules and regulations – like paying Corporation Tax correctly and on time. If you’re starting out as an individual with no other business partners, this part is simple. You’ll be the sole director of the company.
If you do have a business partner or two who you’d like to appoint as director, now is the time to get this in order. It’s also worth having an internal agreement about who is director of what! It might not stop the bickering, but at least it gives you a document to brandish.
Shareholders are the people (or organisations) which own a company. The proportion of shares they own, and even what type of share they own, can determine how much control they have over the company.
People with significant control (PSC) are those who legally own most of the shares with voting rights, giving them more control over the company.
Directors can also be shareholders (this is often the case in a sole director company), which gives directors tax efficient options for paying themselves.
You’ll need to prepare a set of documents which outline how you plan to run the business. These are known as a ‘memorandum of association’ and ‘articles of association’.
The rules around what accounting records you must keep as a limited company are slightly different to bookkeeping as a sole trader. That’s why it’s so important for you to make sure you’re clear on what your limited company is obliged to record, such as the details of:
The last step in the process is to register your limited company with Companies House. You can either do this yourself through Companies House, or ask an accountant or formations agent to do it for you.
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