Starting a business in the UK
A complete walkthrough of establishing a business in the United Kingdom, in the order the stages actually have to happen.
Choosing a structure, registering with Companies House, obtaining your UTR and registering for corporation tax and VAT, setting up a PAYE payroll scheme, and staying compliant afterwards. Written for people doing it for the first time, by the accountants who do it every week.
Most people get the sequence wrong, and the sequence matters. Doing it in order costs nothing extra and saves weeks.
Sole trader, partnership, limited liability partnership or limited company. We go through the advantages and drawbacks of each against your expected profit, your appetite for risk, and whether you will take on staff or investment.
The regulations governing business naming in the UK, how to confirm availability at Companies House, which words are sensitive or restricted, and how to secure a name by reservation where that is appropriate.
A plan outlining your goals, target audience and competition analysis, with financial projections that hold up to scrutiny where a lender or investor will need to see them.
Some trades cannot legally operate without one – food, alcohol, waste carriage, financial services, childcare. Knowing which apply keeps you above board from day one.
We can guide you through each stage, or take the whole thing off your desk.
Choose the structure, settle the name against the Companies House index and the restricted word lists, and build the plan the business will actually be run against.
Register with the right Companies House – England and Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland – with the memorandum and articles, share structure and register of persons with significant control all prepared correctly.
Obtain a Unique Taxpayer Reference from HMRC, register the company for corporation tax within the three months of trading allowed, and register for VAT where turnover requires it or voluntary registration pays.
Understand the legal responsibilities of employing people, choose software that handles PAYE and reports to HMRC on time, register as an employer, and run the first payroll so deductions and RTI are right from the first payslip.
Confirmation statements and annual accounts to Companies House, corporation tax to HMRC, and self assessment where it applies – alongside the accurate records of income, expenditure and payroll that HMRC requires you to keep.
Take qualified legal and financial advice on the decisions that warrant it, and keep someone available for the questions that come up between filings – a hire, a price change, a large purchase, a second director.
Registering for VAT before you know whether you will cross the threshold, taking on staff before a PAYE scheme exists, or choosing a company name already taken at Companies House all create work that could have been avoided entirely. None of it is difficult to get right at the start, and all of it is expensive to unwind later – which is the whole argument for having an accountant involved before day one rather than after year one.
Company formation, every HMRC registration, a PAYE scheme and the bookkeeping opened – quoted as one fixed price after a free 20-minute call.
It depends on profit, risk and intention. Sole trader status is simpler and cheaper to run and suits low-profit or side businesses. A limited company gives limited liability, is usually more tax-efficient once profits are meaningful, and looks more substantial to clients and lenders – at the cost of more filings. We model both against your expected figures.
Companies House normally incorporates within twenty-four hours of a correctly completed application, and often the same day. The registrations that follow take longer, which is why we start them immediately rather than waiting for the certificate.
Registration is compulsory once VAT-taxable turnover passes the threshold in any rolling twelve-month period, or if you expect to pass it within the next thirty days alone. You can also register voluntarily below the threshold, which is often worth doing if your customers are VAT registered.
Usually yes. If the company pays you a salary, that is PAYE, and a scheme has to exist and report in real time – even for one director on a small salary. There are narrow exceptions, so it is worth asking before the first payment rather than after.
Records of income, expenses, VAT, payroll and anything supporting your returns. Companies generally keep them six years from the end of the accounting period; sole traders at least five years after the January deadline. Digital copies are acceptable.
Yes – it is one of the most common ways clients start with us. We form the company, register it for corporation tax, get UTRs, set up VAT and a PAYE scheme where needed, open the bookkeeping and run the first payroll. You make the decisions; we do the filing.
Get in touch by completing the form or by phone today, and we will map out exactly which of these six steps apply to your business – and which do not.
