How To Set Up A Company

Does A Company Have To Provide Share Certificates?

Rob — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:35:11 +0000

The answer is yes as the legislation states:

The company must, within two months after the allotment of any of its shares, debentures or debenture stock, complete and have ready for delivery—

the certificates of the shares allotted,
the debentures allotted, or
the certificates of the debenture stock allotted.

This also applies to share transfers

Do all directors have to provide a home address to Companies House?

Rob — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 10:05:17 +0000

All directors are required to provide both their usual residential address and, for each directorship, a service address.

Your service address will be on the public record e.g. your accountants. However your residential address will be protected information. If you wish you can choose to use your residential address as your service address, in which case it will appear on the public record.

Do I need a company bank account?

Rob — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 09:41:16 +0000

When setting up a new Ltd company in the UK, some people wonder if they can use a personal bank account.

Your company is a separate legal entity in law. Therefore you will need to open a bank account in the company name in order to bank cheques made payable to the company.

Invoices will be raised by your company and therefore monies will be owed to the company and not to you as a director of the company for example.

More discussion here

How to Set up a Company Name

Rob — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 15:38:25 +0000

In order to set up a company name for a limited company in the UK, you will need to register that company with Companies House. You can do this using a formation agent such as Set up a Company.

If you are thinking of starting a business in the future and want to ensure that your company name doesn’t get taken by somebody else, Set up a Company can register the name for you as a limited company and hold it on your behalf.

What Is A Dormant Company?

Rob — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 16:32:57 +0000

Companies House state that a company is dormant if:

“it has had no ‘significant accounting transactions’ during the accounting period. A ‘significant accounting transaction’ is one which the company should enter in its accounting records”.

Companies House do not regard the amount paid for shares on the formation of a company and a the costs that the company may incur in order to keep the company registered at Companies House as significant accounting transactions.

Can I Run My Business From Home?

Rob — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 13:25:07 +0000

Working from home can be the ideal way start as it will keep costs to a minimum whilst you build up your business. However there are laws and rules regarding home working and you would do well to understand them before you fall foul of any.

If your home is rented or you have a mortgage on the property it is advisable to check with your landlord or mortgage company to ensure that you are allowed to run a business from your home. This will ensure you do not fall foul of any restrictions contained in the small print.

There is not usually a problem with working from home, better safe than sorry.

Irrespective of the business nature you will need public liability insurance and possibly employer’s liability insurance. For example if you run a catering business from home and a client comes down with server food poisoning you want to make sure you are covered.

You should check with your local council to see if you are liable for business rates.

Even though your company may well operate from a back bedroom it will still be liable to the same tax rules as a company trading from commercial premises. If you charge the company a rent for using you home, you will be liable to income tax on the rental income.

Set up a Company

Does My Company Need A Company Secretary?

Rob — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:35:23 +0000

The Companies Act 2006 legislation introduced a number of changes, one of which now means limited companies are no longer obliged to appoint a company secretary unless the Articles of Association specifically state the company is required to appoint one.

However problems can arise where a company only has one director as legal documents including bank account opening forms generally require a second signature so to avoid any problems you may still wish to appoint a company secretary.

Companies House will need to be notified should you wish to appoint, remove, or change the details of a company secretary.

Set up a Company

How to set up a company

Rob — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 13:12:44 +0000

Before your business can begin operating as a limited company, you need to register it with the Registrar of Companies at Companies House. Incorporation is the process by which a new or existing business is formed as a company.

You can incorporate the company yourself, but should seek professional advice before you do so to ensure that incorporation is right for you. The easiest and cheapest way to do this is to use an on-line formation agent like Set up a Company

It is at this point that you will choose your company name, add directors and shareholders, and specify your registered office.