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How to register a company in the UK

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Re: How to register a company in the UK

#71

Post by carbonesc »

peteretep wrote: post #56
carbonesc wrote: post #34

I would advise that before people rush to register a Limited company they should consider operating as a sole trader. A sole trader can open a bank account, employ people, rent an office, register trademarks etc. Also search thoroughly for your proposed company name to check for existing businesses with similiar names or trademarks. And you will probably want a domain name to match.

That's a terrible idea. If you're living above the poverty line, the tax breaks for being a limited company are huge, and will pay for the overheads of accountants very quickly.

I agree, the tax position is the calculation that decides the appropriate form of your business. I'm thinking of start-up people living on noodles rather than those who already have a good income.

Re: How to register a company in the UK

#72

Post by ekpyrotic »

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #68
ekpyrotic wrote: post #67

Quick note, regarding "[c]ontrary to what some people will tell you, you can have your business registered at your home address. You can do so even if your tenancy agreement doesn't allow it (obviously, don't actually go out of your way to tell your landlord about it). I don't know anyone who has gotten in trouble because of this (though I'm sure you can find some rare examples if you try)." I use to assess people fo…

How ridiculous. If you want to run a steel mill out of your kitchen, that's one thing, but not allowing someone to write some code for a side business in a spare bedroom? I own multiple rental properties and these scenarios are the least of my worries. Plus, how would a risk check know what was part of your previous tenant agreement? Do people in the UK submit their previous lease with each application?

Ryan, firstly, operating a business out of a tenetted address would not have been a concern, using that address as the registered address on Companies House would be. That can result in serious legal implications for the Landlord at a later date.

Quoting from HMRC:

"If your company or organisation's registered office is in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, HMRC will take action to recover what you owe. This may include:

(i) visiting your business premises to obtain payment or seize your business assets and sell them at auction

(ii) taking legal proceedings to collect the debt through the courts

(iii) in some extreme cases, applying to the court to have your company closed down

Remember interest is accruing from the date your Corporation Tax was due until it's eventually paid. This is on top of the Corporation Tax you owe."

The procedure would run as follows: (1) if the applicant has reported himself as self-employmed, we check whether he is registered as a Ltd. company on Company House. If so (2) we ring the previous landlord and check on any formal or informal agreement regarding using the property as a company registered address.

Our agency was being paid 10-15% of the annual letting fee for letting and managing properties, to my mind checks like these have to be made.

Edit: Usually if you do not have a respectable registered address, you should (1) use your accountant's address with his/her permission, or (2) pay for the services of an umbrella company.

Re: How to register a company in the UK

#73

Post by jaakl »

TestUser123 wrote: post #63

Anyone here who is using a UK company while not based there? Supposedly there are some additional requirements when you're controlling a UK company from abroad. I'm interested in establishing an additional company for some of my ideas but am based in a country which requires high start up capital (Germany, Italy, Belgium, ...). Anyone familiar with this?

It is easy to get company registered, the issue can be getting a bank account. I have seen that UK banks do not trust a company if sole Director is a foreign company, even if from another EU state. Some have told that it is easier if Director is physical person (even if from another country). So yes, expect challenges.

Re: How to register a company in the UK

#74

Post by StavrosK »

mseebach wrote: post #45
jrmg wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of interest, why did you decide to create a UK company rather than a Greek one - or one in another country for that matter?

Besides the stated reason, I'd assume having your contracts denominated in pounds isn't the worst idea for a Greek businessman in this day and age.

Well, the alternative is Euros, so it's not that bad. Not worse than any German or French entrepreneur, I guess...

Re: How to register a company in the UK

#75

Post by mseebach »

StavrosK wrote: post #74
mseebach wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Besides the stated reason, I'd assume having your contracts denominated in pounds isn't the worst idea for a Greek businessman in this day and age.

Well, the alternative is Euros, so it's not that bad. Not worse than any German or French entrepreneur, I guess...

For now, yes. But if Greece leaves the Euro in order to devalue her debt (considered by many as inevitable), the contracts of Greek companies would likely be forcefully redenominated to "New Drachmars".

Of course, no one knows how this will play out, but I think it would be very hard for anyone to touch a UK limited company's contracts and sterling holdings, regardless of who it's owner is.

Re: How to register a company in the UK

#76

Post by amouat »

tom_usher wrote: post #57
amouat wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you choose an accountant? That's the problem I'm currently facing. Actually, that would make a good swombat article...

I'm facing the same problem. I'm just out of education (in the UK) and primarily doing contract work under my own name, I don't know whether getting an accountant would be beneficial, and if so, how to find one that is best for someone in my situation (and aiming to start up). This sort of information about the basics is surprisingly hard to find, so this article is particularly refreshing. Makes me think, I'm sure m…

If you're in Scotland, Business Gateway are meant to help new (small) companies. They've been pretty useless with me so far though. I'll give them another go later. Scottish Enterprise are supposed to help "ambitious" (larger) companies.

I did find the following from them on finding an accountant: http://www.business.scotland.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?r.i=1...

Re: How to register a company in the UK

#77

Post by kandu »

yalooze wrote: post #5

After looking around I used the Bronze package from Companies Made Simple. It ended up being slightly cheaper then using Companies House direct (my understanding of which is that Companies House only charges formation agents £14 per company). Both give you a PDF of the Certificate of Incorporation which you can print off yourself for the bank if they ask for it, plus if you're happy with Barclays the £50 cash back wa…

I also used Companies Made Simple. Everything was fine with them, except that if you have non-ASCII characters in your name they will look scrambled in some of the official documents. Use an ASCII transliteration for your name instead of using non-ASCII characters.
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