Although the sole trader route is the most popular way of running a business in the UK, there are significant advantages of working via a limited company.
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How to set up and run a limited company
Most Popular Guides
- Set up a Limited CompanyHow the company formation process works, which forms to fill in, and what your obligations are as a director.
- Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)Guide to forming an LLP, which limits your personal liability compared to a standard partnership.
- Dormant Limited CompaniesHow to register a company name for use later, or to make a limited company dormant.
- What is Companies House?What is Companies House, and what role does it fulfil in overseeing the UK’s companies?
- Choose a business nameThings to bear in mind when naming your company, including legal limitations.
- Limited Company dividendsWhat are dividends, how to account for them, and how are they taxed. What records need to be kept.
- Company naming rulesThe restrictions that apply to company names, including ‘sensitive’ expressions
- Limited Company DirectorsWhat are your legal and statutory legal responsibilities as a limited company director?
- Limited company advantagesAn overview of the benefits to setting up a limited company, regarded as a tax efficent structure.
- What is the Annual Return?What Form AR01 contains, and why you have to submit it to Companies House
- What is the registered office?Why every limited company needs one, and how to inform Companies House if you move!
- Companies House FormsWhat information has to be submitted to the authorities, and when?
- Articles of AssociationWhat do these documents contain, and what are ‘model’ articles of association?
- Limited company contractingAccess over 500 guides at Contract Eye if you’re thinking of IT contracting via a limited company.
Many businesses start out as owner managed operations with one person owning all of the shares as well as being the managing director. However, as businesses grow, they often want to bring in other people as shareholders; maybe in return for an investment or possibly to a manager that they want to incentivise.
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One of the great advantages of trading through a company is to take advantage of limited liability. This means that, unless you have personally guaranteed a liability – for example to a bank or landlord – then as a director you are not responsible for the company’s debts if it goes bust.
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As long as you comply with the relevant rules you can call your company whatever you like, provided that no one else is using the name already. However there are some restrictions that you need to comply with.
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The Companies Act 2006 enacted a wide range of reforms to the way company law is governed. It set out the duties of company directors for the first time, and has simplified some elements of company incorporation process. In this summary, we look at the key elements of the Act from a company director’s point of view.
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Unless the Articles of Association specify otherwise, a private company does not need to have a company secretary. However, the duties of a company secretary still need to be fulfilled regardless of whether someone is formally appointed. A public company, on the other hand, must have a formal company secretary appointed.
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Aside from the sole trader route, the limited liability company is the most popular business structure in the UK.
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When you form a new limited company, one of the three documents you need to submit are the Articles of Association.The others being Form IN01 and the Company Memorandum of Association. You can read more about what information is provided by these forms in our dedicated article here.
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If you are considering setting up your own limited company, the prospect of ‘dealing with the authorities’ may seem daunting. In reality, the company formation process is very simple – whether you apply yourself, or use a registration agent to set up the company on your behalf.
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Many small businesses operate via private limited companies. There are around 1.15 million limited companies operating in the UK currently, compared to around 2.8m sole traders and 500,000 partnerships.
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A dormant company is one that doesn’t trade and has no accounting transactions. Small companies may choose to buy a dormant company to protect the name, or for other reasons.
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All private companies must have at least one company director – but are there any legal restrictions on who can fill this position?
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By law, every company in the UK must have a registered office – this is a physical address in the UK where the company can receive documents from Companies House and other organisations.
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If you are running a limited company, chances are you may need to change your address, personnel or the company share structure. How do you report these changes to Companies House?
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All companies in the UK must submit an annual return form to Companies House each year – it provides a snapshot of general information about your company, including details of key personnel, the registered office, share capital and shareholdings.From 1st October 2009, new Form AR01 replaced the old Form 363a.
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If you are thinking of setting up a limited company, you should think carefully when choosing your company name. Alongside the business reasons for choosing an appropriate name, there are also a number of company naming rules you should be aware of.
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When setting up and running a company, you will have regular involvement with Companies House. In this article, we look at the main functions of Companies House and what obligations limited companies have.
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If you have set up in business via a limited company, there are a number of duties you will have – as well as legal and financial responsibilities – if you are a director of the company. This article provides an overview of what to expect as a company director.
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The main responsibilities of a company secretary are administrative in nature – ensuring documentation is completed and returned to Companies House and signing off company accounts(although only the directors have any legal responsibility for the contents). The exact role depends on the size of the company, with only occasional administrative tasks required by the typical small business.
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When you set up a limited company, as company director, you will have certain statutory and legal responsibilities which you should be aware of.
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