Mostly today companies are formed in the UK electronically via the websites of a formation agent. A list of approved formation agents can be found at the Companies House website although Companies House themselves do not provide an online service. Anyone can set up a company be they an individual working by themselves or a specialized agent, accountant or solicitor working on behalf of someone else. The majority of these online agents offer company formation packages that may cost less than £100. The fee to process a paper filing via Companies House is approximately £20.

An important factor to be aware of if applying for company formation by paper is that the £20 fee charged by Companies House will not cover the witnessing papers, the memorandum of association and the articles of association. The memorandum contains the names of everyone wanting to form the company and sets out important rules for the company and the articles establish the companys internal workings. These vital documents need to be overseen by a solicitor or accountant and witnessed. If applying by paper via Companies House also be aware that the process will usually take around four weeks to complete.

If you are registering by paper you will also need to include Form IN01, the Application to register a company document. The intended details for your company are created with this document. Here you can establish your companies name (check for availability of names on with the Companies House website search function) and state the location of the registered office. Other details included in this form are subscriber details, share capital details, when applicable, and also details of the consenting company secretary and directors if this applies to your company.

Electronic applications are usually performed by specialist agents that are approved by Companies House using software that is compatible with the eFiling service used by Companies House. There are various different ways of approaching the process but this is usually dependent on the type of software they use the service provides the same results. Formation agents submit your companys information and process the application. It is important to check the list of approved agents on the Companies House website to find an agent that has passed the necessary integration tests.

There are several types of company that can be formed via Companies House in the UK. Some of these are private companies limited by shares, private companies limited by guarantee, public limited companies and Societas Europaea. It is possible to deal with the whole registration process yourself but it is vital to gain some professional advice should you choose to do so. Using the services of a company formation agent is highly recommended as they can guide you through the procedures step by step.

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