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 £12 and can be paid by debit or credit card. Your company is usually registered within 24 hours.

If you do not want to use ‘limited’ in your company name you must register by post.

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

Register now

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 £40 (paid by cheque made out to ‘Companies House’).

Send your application to the address on the form.

  1. Step 1 Check if setting up a limited company is right for you

    1. Check what a private limited company is

    How you set up your business depends on what sort of work you do. It can also affect the way you pay tax and get funding.

    Check if you should set up as one of the following instead:

    1. Get help deciding how to set up your business
  2. Step 2 Choose a name

  3. Step 3 Choose directors and a company secretary

    You must appoint a director but you do not have to appoint a company secretary.

    1. Find out what directors are responsible for
    2. Check who can be a director or company secretary
  4. Step 4 Decide who the shareholders or guarantors are

  5. and Identify people with significant control (PSC) over your company

    For example, anyone with voting rights or more than 25% of the shares.

    1. Find out what counts as a PSC
  6. Step 5 Prepare documents agreeing how to run your company

    You need to prepare a 'memorandum of association' and 'articles of association'.

    1. Find out how to create a memorandum and articles of association
  7. Step 6 Check what records you'll need to keep

  8. Step 7 Register your company

    You'll need to register an official address and choose a SIC code - this identifies what your company does.

    1. Check the rules for company addresses
    2. Check what your SIC code is
    3. You are currently viewing: Register your company with Companies House

    Most people can register for Corporation Tax at the same time as registering with Companies House.

    If you cannot, register separately with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) after you’ve registered your company with Companies House.

    1. Register with HMRC for Corporation Tax