What Does It Cost To Register Limited Company In Uk?
As a business aspirant, you will be delighted to know that now you can open a limited company for less than £13 in the UK. Long gone are the days when opening your business used to be a combination of saint-like patience and a long time. Online company formation agents can help you incorporate your company and be ready to trade on the same day.
There are three ways through which a business person can register their company in the UK. The cost required for all three methods is different, so here are all three ways and the price needed to complete them.
- Hiring a Company Formation Agent
This method costs you around £12. Opening a limited company, even self-employed ones, is affordable in the UK with formation agents’ help. The formation agents significantly bring down the price of opening up a limited company. These agents are the professionals who belong to independently functioning firms. These firms are specialists and can provide the help you require throughout the registration process, i.e., ‘formation’ or ‘incorporation’ of your company at Companies House.
The formation agents provide counsel and support you to register limited company at less cost. Also, they smooth the path of online incorporation under the Companies Act 2006. These formation agents facilitate the process of registration for their customers, i.e., you. The company formation process becomes more straightforward, faster, and affordable when you work with formation agents.
Benefits of hiring a company formation agent
As a person opening a new business, you have to deal with numerous things at a time. Besides, this process requires extensive knowledge of local laws and regulations. Thinking about all such things may clutter your plate. However, you can easily cut this clutter by hiring a company formation agent, who is authorized to file electronic incorporation. Along with making the process affordable for you, hiring a professional company formation agent comes with many benefits.
The company formation agents simplify this time-consuming process and streamline the incorporation of your business. They use specialized software to speed up obtaining a certificate of incorporation, which makes your business official. Generally, it costs as little as £12.99 + VAT to register a limited company when you go with the specialized company formation agent. This amount is significantly lower than the amount you are required to pay if you chose to go directly with Companies House or an accountant.
- Hiring an accountant
They were the standard route of registering a business before the internet took over and led to company formation agents’ emergence. The entire process was dependent on the post, and that is why the incorporation of business with the help of an accountant took a lot more time than the modern method.
Very few business individuals currently go exclusively with the accountants to register their business rather than selecting the less complicated route of formation agents. Another reason for this shift was the amount required to go through the accountant. The accountants charged from £50.00 to £200.00 for the formation of the company.
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Registering directly at Companies House
You can use the online and postal incorporation services of the Companies House to incorporate your company.
Online Way:
In this method, you have to fill the Companies House application form IN01 using the Web Incorporation Service. The entire process costs you £12.00 to register your company. Generally, the officials take around 24-48 hours to process the applications. You can only use this method to register a private company limited by shares with model articles. Furthermore, you cannot use the online mode to issue multiple classes of share, use modified articles, or even register a not-for-profit organization.
Postal Way:
You can go by the traditional way of completing the IN01 application form on paper and simply sending it by post. This method takes more time than modern methods as it takes 8 to 10 days to complete it. It costs you £40.00 to register your company via postal methods. If you are considering this way to register your business, you must know that there is a chance of Companies House rejecting your application.
Additional Cost
You are not subjected to any mandatory additional cost while setting up your business in the UK. However, you can pay for the following two optional extras:
Registered office service: Cost £30.00 to £50.00 per year
You will register your business on a separate address by paying this amount than your residential address on public records. This cost will help you to protect your privacy.
Purchasing a service address: Cost £20.00 to £30.00 per year
Many people purchase this extra to maintain privacy by buying a service address from an address provider.
Conclusion
Registering a UK company is pretty much straightforward and even inexpensive when you go with the formation agents. Many industry experts consider incorporating business through agents an efficient method compared to others as it is more flexible, quick, and helps avoid errors.