Forming a Company
 

Hello

I want to form a company for my wife, and I have a couple of questions that I hope someone can help me with:

1/ Where to do it? There appears to be lots of online places that will do it for £100 (I wanted less than that really) but they throw in domain names, web space and lots of rubbish I don't want.

2/ What type of company? My wife's name is on the mortgage, and if things go wrong I do not want any assets to be liable

Thank you for your help.

Steve.

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg...&tc=startingup

http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/startingup/

A standard Ltd Co. will do you fine, as the name implies liability is limited. You can form one yourself by filling in a form, or you can buy an "off the shelf" one. google should reveal a number of "ready made company" companies. I remember seeing them for about £50.

This section should be relevant to you :)

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg...cId=1073865730

When I set up a company I went to the local Business Link office. They can give you lots of free advice. They also put me in contact with a local Accountant who gave a free consultantion and outlined all the costs. Don't forget that if it is a Limited Company a Chartered Accountant must prepare accounts for you every year; you are not going to get accounts produced for much less than £1000.

My Accountant had all the paperwork required to set up the company.

good subject as Im about to start my own business up too.

www.companieshouse.gov.uk

this should have all info you need

Often accountancy firms have pre-formed companies, so as long as you get them to do the accounts for 12 months you get the company formed for zero cost, you just need to change the name to the one you want.

I used to use an internet based accountancy company, so I just submitted most financial information each month via their website and posted receipts etc when I needed to. The cost was £60/month and they did my personal tax return too for that.

Hello

Thank you for the replies. I don't actually envisage the company making any money in the short term, I just want to protect the name.

So the filing of accounts bothers me. If we don't make any money, then we can do the accounts ourselves? (I don't want to pay £60 per for example).

Thanks.

Steve.

You can submit a nil return for a non trading company.

Steve,

If the company qualifies as a "small company" (which it will) you can do and file your own accounts, they don't need to be either prepared by an accountant or Audited.

D

steve

like you, i have a ltd company (registered with companies house for last 5 years) but which is non-trading.

once a year i have to fill in an annual return to them - confirming company is dormant, confirming details of registered office, directors, etc and send it with a one page dormant company resolution and a filing fee which has now gone up to £30 per annum (£15 per annum if you do it online).

i also fill in a 2 page form confirming dormant accounts and send this to companies house and copy it to my local tax office. that's it. nothing else to do.

the ex-boyfriend of my girlfirend's sister is an accountant and set up all the paperwork - word templates, etc for me. now all i do is change to dates and print, sign, post them.

ask if you want any more info.

steve, i started out 2 years ago as trading as company but with VAT registration.

i run this company along with a limited company i bought on the web from ukplc.

went down to barclays, opened an account and thats it, all very painless.

dont worry about being a sole trader for a while as long as you dont "borrow" anything or have contractual liabilities, no one can touch you.

maybe let people on here into what kind of business it is?? do you need to "buy" stock or transport or office space???

theres plenty of self-employed bods on here you can chat to, and my mailbox is always open too.

daren65@hotmail.com

all the best.

Beemerboy.

One of the main reasons for trading as a limited company as opposed to sole trader or partnership status is because of limited liability.

Briefly, a limited company enters into contracts & agreements as a separate legal entity. As a director, you would have authority to bind the company and enter into contracts on its behalf, but at all times it is the company and not you that is liable. This gives directors protection from proceedings issued by other parties.

Having said that, if the company needs to borrow money, its bank may ask you as a director to enter into a personal guarantee, which negates this advantage. You may also be liable for certain criminal acts, such as 'corporate manslaughter' although this is very much a different issue.

The other potential advantage in having a small limited company is tax liability. You can take drawings as dividends with very limited tax implications if you are a director and shareholder in a closed company. Your accountant should be able to advise you on the relative merits of this versus the sole trader route.

I think it also depends who you are going to work for.

My company acts as a sub-consultant to a number of the large civil engineering consultancys in the UK. They will only employ limited companies, even if only one person. I think this is due to the PAYE and NI liabilities. As far as I recall, if a sole trader or partnership, employed by the consultant does not pay their PAYE and NI, the consultant can end up being liable for all monies owed to the IR if the sole trader or partnership goes bankrupt.

Hello

Thank you for your help. I used these people http://www.company-wizard.co.uk/ in the end. It cost £41 and the Limited Company was formed a few hours later.

http://www.sadandlonely.com/organic.gif

Steve.

Rampant rabbits for treehuggers then :D