How Much Time Does It Take to Register A Limited Company?

Have you been trying to register a limited company for quite some time now? Company registration is a crucial task to complete if you need to start a business in the UK. But the process can get challenging from time to time.

If you aren’t well aware of the technicalities involved in registration work, you might end up approaching it in the wrong way. And this procedure shouldn’t require much of your time or energy.

 

Types of Business Structures in the UK

It is practically possible to register a limited company in 3 hours. But before learning the technicalities required for the same, you also need to know some essential facts. Let’s start with the company types available in the UK.

There are mainly four kinds of business structures present in the UK. Each of these has different tax and liability implications for both the shareholders and owners.

• Sole Trader: It is the easiest and simplest form of business to start with and for registration purposes. Here, you are a self-employed sole trader, where you work for yourself and need to register with HMRC. So, technically, it is you who runs the show here. You are responsible for all liabilities, keeping all the documents, paying tax and national insurance.

 

• Partnership: This one involves two or more individuals who agree to share both the trade’s loss and profits, costs, risks, responsibilities, and benefits of running any business organization. You need to create a deed having all the details written clearly.

 

• Limited Liability Partnership: LLP is quite similar to the partnership as stated above, except that its liability is limited to the business’s member of resources invested. You need to register LLP at Companies House as well as HMRC. In LLP, the annual accounts need proper preparation and filing. You can merge the LLP with two or more members.

The member can be any company or an individual. The responsibilities and the profit shares are all tabulated within the LLP agreement. The members need to submit a personal self-assessment tax return each year, thereby paying the income tax and paying the National Insurance and HMRC.

 

• Limited Company: A limited company refers to a privately managed business owned by shareholders but run by the directors. The company would be a separate legal entity that has its obligations as well as rights. In simpler terms, the company would be responsible for everything it would be doing in the market. Finances would be separate from the personal affairs of the individual owners.

Here you can set up either private or public limited companies. Most start-ups are generally private limited companies with at least two shareholders, two directors, and a qualified and experienced company secretary.

Paperwork Required to Set up a Company in the UK

Once you are clear about the types of business organizations permitted in the UK, you need to be quite thorough about the documents required for registering a company as well.

If you are looking for easy ways to register your private company in the UK, you need to find a reliable professional to help you. You would require a form named IN101, which is an application to register the company. It is a document which will bear all the relevant information about your company. You need to fill up:

• The company’s name
• Type of the company
• The registered office address for the company
• Names of the appointed company secretary and company directors, if there are more than one.
• Address of the directors of the company
• Share capital information
• Memorandum of association

 

If you register the private limited organizations, then the company secretary might be an option for you.  Memorandum of association refers to a legal document that consists of vital data and information about the company.

The document highlights the name, address, objectives, and aims of the company. It would also state the liability of all the company members and the definite details of the share capital.

In case the companies are limited by guarantee, this document would also contain the elaborate details of the amount contributed by each member of the company.  The record would highlight each subscriber or shareholder’s names and the number of shares they hold in the company.

Time Required to Register a Limited Company

The amount of time required to register any limited company depends on your application process. It can take up around 8 to 10 days if you select the postal application methods.

But in case you want it quite fast, choose the online platform as it takes a maximum of 24 hours or so. Also, it is advisable to conduct the registration process on any weekday. The earlier you submit the application form, the quicker the process, and you can also get faster approval.

 

Reasons That Can Delay the Registration Process

If you are not getting the company’s registration done within a short span, you might get bothered about the entire procedure. Therefore, it is essential to know about the probable causes that might get your application delayed or rejected. Here are a few of them.

• Another person or business might have taken the company’s proposed name or registered it before; it might contain any sensitive word that laws do not permit.
• You might have provided the initials only instead of the full name of the shareholders or the owners.
• The application doesn’t contain all relevant information fully.
• Failing to provide the relevant information like the address of the company
• Misspelling the nationality of an individual
• Stating ethnicity wrongly
• Providing wrong articles of association or memorandum
• The director is under sixteen years of age.
• Providing an incorrect structure of the company shares
• Appointing a disqualified director for the company
• Appointing any other corporate body as the solitary director of the company
• Providing inaccurate personal information of the people involved

In case of such situations, it is advisable to hire a professional who can guide such applications.

The Bottom Line

So, these are the things that you need to keep in mind while registering a limited company. If everything is in place, the registration process will not take long. Several expert organizations in the market can guide you through the entire registration and application process. You can immediately start trading after successful enrollment, provided you have opened a business account in the bank.