Register your company
Use this service to register your company with Companies House. You will be registered for Corporation Tax at the same time.
There’s a different way to register for Corporation Tax if you’ve already registered with Companies House.
You’ll get a ‘certificate of incorporation’. This confirms the company legally exists and shows the company number and date of formation.
You’ll need at least 3 pieces of personal information about yourself and your shareholders or guarantors, for example:
- town of birth
- mother’s maiden name
- father’s first name
- telephone number
- national insurance number
- passport number
It costs £50 and can be paid by debit or credit card. Your company is usually registered within 24 hours.
It’s currently taking longer than usual to register companies because of a high number of applications.
You can also use this service to:
- register for PAYE to tell HMRC you’re employing staff (including yourself if you’re the only director)
- continue an application if you’ve already started registering
If you do not want to use ‘limited’ in your company name you must register by post.
You’ll need to create a Government Gateway user ID and password for your company when you register it. You cannot use your personal Government Gateway ID.
Other ways to register
You can also register:
You’ll also need to register for Corporation Tax within 3 months of starting to do business.
Register by post
You can register by post using form IN01.
Postal applications take 8 to 10 days and cost £71 (paid by cheque made out to ‘Companies House’).
Send your application to the address on the form.