It may be argued that is almost too easy to start a new company in the UK. With so many online formation services you can have a company registered in just a few hours without even researching what the requirements are. Before you know it the process is complete, but if you make a mistake at the time of incorporation the task can quickly become frustrating and labour-intensive.
Those individuals who decide to form a company in haste, may not be aware of all of the potential errors that can be made. Submitting incorrect data can incur costs to rectify the problem so we recommend you spend a little time investigating how to form a company and what mistakes to avoid.
Common errors include:
- Forming a company that is limited by guarantee instead of a company limited by shares – or the other way around
- Issuing too many shares to begin with or choosing a value that is too high subsequently increasing your liability
- Putting personal details into the system incorrectly – a misspelt name can cause major delays when it comes to opening a bank account, for example
- Proving your private address on the public register without due consideration
- Adding the wrong people as company directors
Avoiding these mistakes, however is simple. You can choose to use a company formation agent like us or seek advice from your accountant. Here at Simple Formations we have been providing online company formation services for many year. We understand the requirements and will make sure everything that is needed is ready to go before the formation process and provide useful guides, hints and tips along the way to help you make the right decisions.
The actual process of forming a company can take as little as 2 or 3 workings hours from the time the application is submitted to Companies House. Getting to the point of submittal requires several decisions:
- Selection of a name for the company - The desired name of the company can be checked using our name search facility.
- Choice of Registered office - Every registered company in the UK is required to have a legally registered office address which will be where communications from Companies House, HMRC and all official letters can be received.
- Who to appoint as director or secretary - There is no longer a requirement to have a company secretary as the duties traditionally performed by them can now be dealt with by any Director. Some people choose to have one though, just to keep the lines of responsibility clearly defined.
- What shares to create and how many to issue - This may sound complicated but we help you with this. We offer default settings or bespoke creation of share classes.
You may not have fully considered all of the questions you will have to consider and we cannot cover everything in one blog article. Rest assured we are on hand to help you with the process. Chatting it through with an expert, like Simple Formations, can really help make the process as easy as possible.
