How to officially register your business in the UK

Note: This is applicable for the UK only!! You might be asking: How do I officially register my business in the UK? Well, you can browse the web and you'll find a lot of information on the internet. Trust me, there is so much out there, it can be quite overwhelming - not to mention the hours you would be spending researching and reading. That's why I've written this 'How-to' as there are a few things to think about before starting the registration process at Companies House. I've started my first business in 2019, everything was new to me and I didn't really know where to start and I just dived right in. I've gone back and forth and eventually got there. But if you have everything ready, the registration process goes smooth and quickly. Hence, I've prepared a list of steps below, which is structured in a way that it can be easily followed in a sequential way. So, let’s get started.

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9 steps

1 Picking your company name

There are three general options: - Pick a name in line of what your business is all about - Use your own name(s) to some fashion - Look online for inspirations If your company name reflects on your product or the product you might have, be generic enough because if you change your business direction later on, the name might not be suitable anymore. A company name can be officially changed but you might be known with your chosen name and do not want to change it. Once you picked your name, make sure it has not been taken already. Check ‘Company name availability checker’ on the UK government website: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company-name-availability Also, check if a brand name/trademark already exists or if the name is already protected otherwise - here are some useful links: https://www.gov.uk/search-for-trademark, and https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ip-basics/ip-basics Once this is clarified, you can move on to the next steps

2 Get a bespoke email address

Once you finalised your business name, you might want to obtain a domain name for your business email address This is not mandatory for the registration, but it somehow gives the business credibility, offers brand consistency, separates your business emails from private emails, it looks more professional, and might be used later on to set up new staff accounts Note that for the registration of your business, you will need to supply an email address. If you want to use your private email address in the first instance, that’s not a problem as the email address will not be made public on Companies House. There are no issues changing the email address at Companies House later For bespoke email addresses, there are several options to choose from, such as free business email addresses (be a bit careful with some of them), or you can pick a company dealing with business email addresses including an inbox (comes with a small fee, they do checks, you can go for 'co.uk' or 'com').

3 Get a Registered Office Address - Page 1 of 2

You will need to supply Companies House with a registered office address. Note that this address will be made public and everyone in the world can see it. There are no objections to use your home address, but for privacy purposes, this is not advisable. You can change your registered office address at Companies House later on, but note that any changes are also made public. In other words, if you supply your private address and change it later, your previous private address will still be visible in the changes. Please be very aware of that. On how to obtain a registered office address, here are the options: - Check online for companies supplying registered office addresses – there is a fee for that - Use the address of your accountancy firm, if you have one (ask first), that may also come with an additional fee - Use your private address (not advisable)

4 Get a Registered Office Address - Page 2 of 2

If you choose to obtain a registered office address with a company and are not quire sure which address you would like to have, here is another thought: Look at a company in the UK you like or admire with which you want to have something in common, check out their details at Companies House – here is the link to Companies House: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/ If you then copy & past their registered office address and check online, it will tell you which registered office address company they have been using, providing they didn't use the address from their accountancy firm or their own postal address (a lot of large companies do that)

5 Final steps prior to company registration

To see how a company appears at Companies House, go on their website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house. Click on ‘Find company information’, and click on ‘start now’ and type in any company name you want to have a look at. A list of company names will most likely come up, just click on the one you want to see Have a look on what is displayed (Overview), what documents are disclosed publicly (Filing history), and the name of the registered officers (People) That way you’ll get a feel for what you will have to think about before starting with the registration process. This will also give you an indication on what is made public to everyone.

6 Registration at Companies House

After all of the preparation, we’re finally there!!! Search on the internet for ‘Companies House’ – or, here is the general link: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house Click on ‘Set up a company’ and you’ll see a step-by-step list which you’ll need to follow Note: there is a registration fee of £13 (as per 2024) after you filled everything in, which needs to be paid right away. You can use your own private bank account as this is a one off payment After the payment is complete, you’ll receive an email informing you of your registration and telling you what to expect next. Note: this is not the final confirmation!!

7 After you finished your registration

First of all, congratulations!!! You’ve done it!!! This is a quite a big step!! You’ll receive another email from Companies House a few days later congratulating you to the formation of your company and confirming that you are now registered. Attached to their email would be the ‘Certificate of incorporation’ and the ‘Memorandum of association’. If these documents are not attached, they can be retrieved by signing into the WebFiling service and selecting ‘My Recent Filings’ Just a heads-up, now that you are a new business owner, there are many new tasks you will have to complete, such as: - Confirmation Statements (annually, filed to Companies House; this is very simple) - Annual accounts, corporation tax and company tax returns (annually, filed to HMRC; this might not be so simple) - Self-Assessment (HMRC supplies very good advise on that, but it’s generally simple enough)

8 Business Bank Account

Depending on how you’ve set up your business, you might be required to have a business bank account. Or you may want to have a business bank account to separate your business finances from your private finances There are the usual high street banks but also private banks as alternatives to high street banks. It is worth looking around as the fee structure varies and is often not transparent Just a caution, this might take a while. Be patient

9 More Information

In case you need more information, ask me: monika@replastify.co.uk You can also visit me in Berkshire (UK) if you are around. I am in the process of building my own shredder from scratch (I'm not an engineer!!!) - so this will be challenging. But I'm very much looking forward to finish things off. I've already completed my welding course and am about to attend a machining course. I found a workshop in which I can do all of the work and they do supply training as well and are at hand. This is really useful - and, they are nice guys. I'm so glad I have found them. I'll be soon more active with Precious Plastic, but am busy with so many things. Well, I'll do one thing after the next. By the way, I most recently registered my company Replastify (Precious Plastic) Limited. You can check me out on Companies House. I wish you all the best. Monika

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