The first thing that comes to your mind while starting the business is what will be its name. Registering the name is also the first and the most important step in the process of registering a company in the UK. The business owners should ensure that the name of the business is simple, short and unique.
How to Register a Business Name in UK?
Compliance of rules
The Companies House has mentioned the words and phrases that you can use in your business name. There are various websites that can help you decide your companies and their availability.
The Companies House has also provided various sources on its websites where people can check the availability of the name for their business. But keeping a simple and easy name is the key to having a good business name.
Also, there are several documents on the website of the UK government which provides you with the guidelines and rules for registering the business name. The business owners should keep in mind that the name of your business should not match with any government authority.
Have an official company address
You need to provide an official office address to the Companies House and the same address will be available to the public also. So, for privacy concerns, you can give the address of accountant’s office address also.
You also have an option to rent a place and use that as an office address.
Disclosure of business activity
You also need to disclose the nature of your business activity. For the disclosure, the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) is used. This code shows the kind of goods and commodities your business is trading.
These codes are divided into various activities and each activity has a different SIC code. The publishing activity has a 58 code number, which means that if you are pursuing a publishing activity business, then your SIC will have its starting with 58.
For the convenience of people of the UK, the Companies House has provided the list of codes on its official website. The users can have detailed knowledge of the codes from that list.
Select your company director
The selection of a company director is a crucial task as the directors’ manage the important tasks of the business, so a good company director can help your business earn higher profits.
A limited company needs to have at least one company director and one member before its registration. In the case of one-person limited company, the same person can be the director as well as the member of the company. Sole Trading companies do not require registering their business names.
After selecting the company director, you need to disclose their names, addresses also with their consent.
Setting up shareholders and top management
It is considered that the shareholders own the company partially because of the rights they hold in the company. The shareholders have various rights in the company as they can enjoy the profit of the business according to dividends according to their share in the business; they also have the right to vote in the company’s decisions.
The shareholders also have an additional benefit that at the time of winding up of the company, they get a share in the capital.
Persons with Significant Control (PSC), are the people who own at least 25% shares of the company. These people also have enormous powers in the business as they can change the directors of the company and they also influence the important decisions of the business.
Requirement of Model Articles
Articles of Association are the document that contains the rules and regulations for your business, the rules the directors and the PSC need to follow are also mentioned in the AoA.
Model Articles is the version of AoA which is used in the UK. The Model articles can also be considered as the standard version of AoA.
Some businessmen prefer to have their own AoA, the law has granted such permission also. But their own AoA should comply with the rules of the Companies Act 2006 and can have slight differences that are not invalid.
The law strictly such applications in which the rules of AoA do not comply with the official rules and regulations.
Signature of shareholders
The next step in the process of registering your company name is the creation of the company’s shareholders and other important people’s signatures electronically.
According to the Companies House, the creation of the signature of every shareholder is necessary.
Payment of fee
The Companies House has fixed certain fees that you need to pay for registering your business name. The fees can differ from £10 to £100 depending on the size and various other factors of your business.
The business owners have various options for the registration of their business name as they can apply by themselves or can take help from agents for the registration process.
After the completion of the process of registration of your business name, you can start your business. Also, the business owners need to keep in mind that they should register themselves for the Corporation Tax also; if after three months of their first trading activity, they have not registered themselves for the Corporation Tax, then they will have to pay a penalty.
There is an assumption among the business owners that you need to register the ‘trading name’ differently but it is not at all true as if the business name does not have LLP or Ltd, and then it will be valid as the trading name also.
Since there is a rule that the business name cannot have LLP or Ltd in their names, if your business name has it, then you will have to register for the trading name separately.
Then finally you can submit your application for the registration of your business name to the Companies House and after proper verification and compliance with the rules, the name of your business will be registered.
