If you’ve read any articles on how to set up a small business in the UK, you’ll have realised that you need to register your business with Companies House.
What is Companies House?
Companies House is an executive agency sponsored by the UK government’s Department for Business and Trade, and it operates across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. It’s responsible for approving the incorporation of new companies by inspecting and maintaining the information relating to these companies.
It’s also responsible for updating and maintaining a register of companies which can be accessed online by the general public for free. This means that everyone can easily monitor and inspect the ownership, actions and reliability of every company operating in the UK. So it’s great for transparency!
When Do You Need to Register Your Business with Companies House?
In order to be trading legally as a limited company or limited liability partnership (LLP) in the UK, you’re legally required to register with Companies House within three months of starting your business.
The process of registering your business with Companies House is fairly straightforward. Once you’ve registered, you’ll need to fill in an annual confirmation statement to confirm that the information that Companies House holds on your business is up to date and correct.
What Information Do You Need to Register Your Business with Companies House?
First up, you need to work out what business structure best suits your company. Most companies in the UK are private companies limited by shares, a popular choice because it can help you be more tax efficient and provide financial protection for the directors if the company gets into financial trouble.
You’ll then need to to pick a unique company name and enter your company confirmation, including your company address, company directors and shareholders. Once you’ve completed the documents required by Companies House, you’ll then be able to submit your application and wait to be approved.
I Don’t Have an Office. Can I Register My Company Using My Home Address?
You are absolutely allowed to register your company using your home address – but you might want to think carefully.
Companies House is a public and searchable website, meaning that literally anyone can look up your company information – including your address. And if you get to setting up things like Google My Business, you might find that your address is a lot more public than you’d like.
The best way to get around this is to pay a small amount a month for a virtual office address. This allows you to register your business at a physical address without any of the expensive overheads of renting a private office. That means that you can keep your costs down by working from home while also making sure that your company has a professional postcode. And it means that you can keep your home address hidden.
If you choose Impact Brixton as your virtual office, you’ll be able to use our location in Brixton Village as your official company address. So when people look your company up, that’s what they’ll see – a professional London postcode in a vibrant business hub. It’s a great way to boost your brand, giving your company a professional image to build trust in your services.
You can also use this address to set up a business bank account, keeping all your finances in check and clearly delineating your personal accounts from your business cash flow. It’s ideal for keeping a healthy boundary between your home and your business – even if you’re doing a lot of the hard work from your kitchen table (you go, entrepreneur!).
All your official correspondence, including anything from HMRC or Companies House, will go straight to your virtual office address, where it will then be sorted. With Impact Brixton’s virtual office, you have two options – you can then either pop in to collect it from our light and airy space in the heart of Brixton, or you can arrange for it to be forwarded straight to your home address. Easy peasy!
The great thing about registering your business at a virtual office that also has a physical space is that it leaves plenty of room for your company to grow. Here at Impact Brixon, we’ve got professional meeting rooms that you can book to meet your clients, day passes for hot-desking so that you can get a change of scenery while working from home, and even private offices so that later down the line you can move in without needing to change your business address with Companies House.
So what are you waiting for? Make that dream a reality and head over to the Companies House website. We believe in you.
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