Register a company in the UK, without touching a single form

If you want a limited company, you incorporate it with Companies House — online, for £50, usually confirmed within 24 hours. You supply a unique company name, a UK registered office address, a registered email address, at least one director, at least one shareholder, your share capital, at least one SIC code and details of anyone with significant control, and every director and PSC verifies their identity. If you want to be a sole trader instead, there is no Companies House filing at all: you register for Self Assessment with HMRC and start trading.

Companies House charges £50 to incorporate online, £78 for a same-day online incorporation and £71 by post. Identity verification through GOV.UK One Login is free. Formation agents add their own fee on top, typically £20 to £150 depending on what is bundled. Octa Tech House charges £99 + VAT for a done-for-you formation, and that figure already includes the £50 Companies House fee.

An online incorporation is normally registered within 24 hours once every director and PSC has verified their identity, though Companies House quotes up to five working days at busy periods. Same-day incorporation is available for £78 if you file before the afternoon cut-off. Postal applications take eight to ten days. The usual delay is not Companies House — it is identity verification, so do that first.

No. Anyone can incorporate directly with Companies House for £50 and nothing about the process requires an agent. Agents are worth paying when you want the surrounding pieces handled — a registered office address so your home address stays off the public register, correct SIC codes, share structure set up properly for more than one founder, and someone to check the name before you file. If all you need is a company shell in your own name at your own address, filing it yourself is perfectly sensible and we will tell you that on the call.

Yes. There is no residency or nationality requirement for directors or shareholders of a UK limited company. What you must have is a UK registered office address in the jurisdiction you incorporate in, and every director and PSC still has to verify their identity — which non-UK residents usually do through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider rather than GOV.UK One Login. Opening a UK business bank account as a non-resident is the genuinely hard part, not the incorporation.

Legally yes, as long as post can be delivered and signed for there. Practically, think twice: the registered office is published on a free, fully searchable public register and it is harvested by marketing lists, cold callers and scam letter operations within days. A registered office service costs tens of pounds a year and keeps your home address private. Note that your usual residential address as a director is never published — only the service address and the registered office are.

It is a check introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, and since 18 November 2025 it has been compulsory for every new director and person with significant control. You prove who you are once, free, through GOV.UK One Login using a passport, UK driving licence or biometric residence permit, and it takes around fifteen minutes. You can also verify through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider. Existing directors of companies incorporated before that date verify as part of their next confirmation statement.

Sole trader is simpler: no Companies House filing, no public accounts, one Self Assessment return. A limited company gives you limited liability, a separate legal entity, the ability to issue shares, and it is often a hard requirement for public sector and larger B2B contracts. The rough rule is that once you are carrying real risk, signing meaningful contracts, or making profits above roughly £30,000, the company structure earns its extra admin. Talk to an accountant about your own numbers before you decide — we are not tax advisers.

A SIC code is a five-digit Standard Industrial Classification code that tells Companies House what your business does. You must give at least one and can give up to four. It does not change your tax, but banks, insurers and lenders read it, so a vague or wrong code creates friction when you open an account. Pick the code that matches your main trading activity and only add secondary codes for things you genuinely do.

For a single founder, one ordinary share of £1 is enough and is the most common structure in the UK. For two or more founders, issue 100 ordinary £1 shares and split them to match the ownership you have actually agreed, so the percentages are obvious on the register. Get this right at incorporation: changing it afterwards means share transfers, valuations and potentially a tax charge.

A PSC is anyone who holds more than 25% of the shares, holds more than 25% of the voting rights, has the right to appoint or remove a majority of the board, or otherwise exercises significant influence over the company. Every company must identify its PSCs and keep the register accurate — their names, month and year of birth, nationality and the nature of their control are published. Failing to declare a PSC is a criminal offence, not an administrative slip.

No. VAT registration is separate from incorporation and only becomes compulsory when your rolling 12-month taxable turnover passes £90,000, at which point you have 30 days from the end of that month to register. You can register voluntarily below the threshold, which usually pays off if your customers are VAT-registered businesses and costs you sales if your customers are consumers.

Three things. A confirmation statement to Companies House every 12 months, £34 online, confirming the register is still correct. Annual accounts to Companies House — the first set 21 months after incorporation, then 9 months after each accounting reference date. And a CT600 company tax return to HMRC 12 months after your period end, with the Corporation Tax itself payable 9 months and 1 day after the period end, which is earlier than the return.

Yes. A change of name costs £20 online and takes effect when Companies House issues the change of name certificate. Your company number never changes, so contracts, the bank account and your VAT registration all follow the company rather than the name. You do have to update your website, invoices, signage and email footers, which is the part that actually costs money.

For a limited company, effectively yes. The company is a separate legal person and its money is not your money, so running it through a personal account makes the accounts a nightmare and blurs exactly the separation that limited liability depends on. You will need the certificate of incorporation, your company number, proof of ID and proof of address to open one. Sole traders are not legally required to have one, but it still makes bookkeeping far easier.

The application is rejected and you have to file again, which is why the name check comes before the payment. The usual reasons are a name that is "same as" or "too like" an existing company, a sensitive or restricted word used without supporting evidence, or a missing Limited or Ltd suffix. Note that Companies House does not check trade marks, so a name can be accepted on the register and still expose you to an infringement claim — search the trade mark register as well.

Yes, and plenty of people do it to reserve a name. A company that has not traded is dormant, and it still has to file a confirmation statement and dormant company accounts every year — the obligations start at incorporation, not at your first invoice. Tell HMRC the company is dormant so they do not expect a Corporation Tax return, and register for Corporation Tax within three months of the day you actually start trading.

Yours. You are the director and shareholder from the moment of incorporation, and the certificate, the Companies House login, the registered email address and every account we set up belong to you. We do not hold companies, domains or Google accounts on clients' behalf. If you stop working with us, everything stays exactly where it is.

Three or four company names in order of preference, the full name, date of birth, nationality, occupation, home address and service address for each director, the same for each shareholder plus the split you have agreed, a rough description of what the business will do so we can pick SIC codes, and an email address for Companies House correspondence. If you do not have a registered office address yet, we will talk through the options on the call. Most formations are filed within one working day of getting that information.

No. We handle the Companies House registration itself and the digital setup around it — website, domain, business email, Google Business Profile. Questions about which structure minimises your tax, how to draft a shareholders' agreement, or whether to take salary or dividends belong with a qualified accountant or solicitor, and we will say so rather than guess. Everything on this page is general information about the registration process, not advice about your situation.