Yes. If you incorporate a company on BeanBalance you incorporate a UK based, Private Company Limited by Shares, more commonly known as a Limited Company.

We send your incorporation request electronically online (via 2048bit Secure Socket Layer) to Companies House for incorporation. It’s the fastest and most secure way to incorporate a limited company in the UK today.

Yes, 100% safe and secure!

We’re registered under the Data Protection Act (Reg Nr: Z2644224). Your personal information is 100% safe and secure with us. We do not share your information with any 3rd parties, except if you specifically request that we do.

We’re a authorised user of Companies House. This allows us to incorporate limited companies on your behalf through online electronic incorporation requests, the fastest and most secure way to incorporate limited companies in the UK.

Incorporating your company on BeanBalance is quick and easy. Simply:

• Check to see if your new company name is available.
• Once you've decided on an available name, continue by registering on BeanBalance.
• You'll be asked to enter all the information needed to incorporate your company. BeanBalance will provide online assistance where needed to make this as easy as possible.
• Once you've entered all the necessary information you can submit the company incorporation request on BeanBalance.
• BeanBalance will take care of the rest. As soon as your company is incorporated we will notify you via email. You'll be able to download all your company documentation straight from BeanBalance.

And that's it, you won't find an easier way to incorporate your limited company in the UK today. Have a look to see if your company name is available.

The main difference is ease of use, and our 'Timeline' service. Because we only focus on one type of company formation, Private Company Limited by Shares, more commonly known as a Limited Company, we were able to simplify the incorporation process significantly, making it a lot easier and quicker than some of our competitors.

Our 'Timeline' service will assist you in taking care of all the lesser known responsibilities that come with a limited company. Your timeline will be specific to your company, so will know exactly what needs to be done, when it has to be done, and how to do it.

Have a look at the following comparison between BeanBalance and other company formation websites.

If you incorporate a company on BeanBalance you incorporate a UK based, Private Company Limited by Shares, more commonly known as a Limited Company. A limited company should be sufficient for the vast majority of situations, including contracting and new business startups. (Excluding non-profit organizations.)

Please contact us if you’re unsure about the type of company that would best suit your situation.

Your personal information is 100% secure. We do not share your personal information with any 3rd parties except if you specifically request it.

To be able to incorporate your company we need to send the relevant company details to Companies House. This will include information that will be available to the public after your company is successfully incorporated. For more information, please see the question below, ‘What do you do with my personal information’.

To be able to incorporate a limited company in the UK the following information has to be sent to Companies House:

• Registered Office Address for the new company incorporation request
• All director details captured on BeanBalance for the new company incorporation request
• All shareholder details captured on BeanBalance for the new company incorporation request

All of the above information, except the residential addresses of the directors (if different from the service addresses) will be available on Companies House for public viewing. This is required by law and is the case for all limited companies in the UK.

BeanBalance was specifically designed to make company formations as easy as possible. To be able to do this we decided to focus on one company type, a private Company Limited by Shares, more commonly known as a Limited Company, incorporated with the standard Memo and Articles of Association issued by Companies House.

By focusing on this we’ve removed a lot of confusing options that are not needed by the vast majority of new startups. The downside is the lack of flexibility. If you need to incorporate a company with a custom Memo and Articles of Association for instance, we won’t be able to assist you unfortunately.

Even though it’s necessary to capture a lot of information to be able to incorporate a limited company, the information captured is very basic (names, addresses etc). We also provide additional help and assistance on BeanBalance for the more complex questions.

Unfortunately we won’t be able to assist you if you need to incorporate your company with custom Memo and Articles of Association. All our companies are incorporated with the standard Memo and Articles of Association issued by Companies House.

As of April 2008 the appointment of a company secretary was no longer legally required to incorporate a limited company. BeanBalance was specifically designed to make company formations as easy as possible. As a result of this we decided to drop the company secretary step from the incorporation process.

You will still be able to appoint a secretary (if needed) on the Companies House website after your company is incorporated. Please see 'How do I appoint a secretary?' below for more information.

It usually takes between 1 and 6 working hours for Companies House to incorporate a limited company. Companies House working hours is from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.

Please note that we cannot guarantee that your company will be incorporated within 6 hours. We have no control over Companies House. Depending on how busy they are it might take longer to incorporate your company.

Limited liability gives the owners of the company (its shareholders) protection if the company fails. This means that if a company is put into liquidation, the people who own the company will only be required to pay what they have already paid or agreed to pay towards settling its debts, usually what they have paid or agreed to pay for their shares.

The Companies Act 2006 requires a private company to have at least one director. However, a company's articles of association could impose a higher minimum requirement. At least one director must be an individual. A private company does not need to have a secretary unless the company's articles of association require it.

A private company does not need to have a secretary unless the company's articles of association require it.

No, not for a private limited company.

In short, director’s run the business and shareholders own the business.

Shareholders are investors, they have a stake in the business as a result of owning shares in the business; however they do not and are not involved in running the company on a day to day basis - that is the role of the Director.

Because the directors run the business they are accountable to the shareholders as a whole. Shareholders can take action to protect their interests by passing resolutions at a general meeting if they can raise enough votes (e.g. a majority vote (more than 50%) to remove a director).

Directors and shareholders can be the same person. For example, a contractor will usually be the only shareholder as well as the only director in the limited company. The contractor will therefore be running the business as the director of the company, but they will also own the business meaning all the dividends will be declared to them.

The following company information must be included on all company documents (e.g. letterheads, invoices, receipts, orders, etc.):

• Any trading name by which the company is known by as well as the full name of the company, normally ending in the word ‘Limited’
• The place of registration, e.g. England and Wales
• The company’s registration number
• The company’s registered office
• Details of any regulated profession that the company is a member of

You don’t have to include the director’s names, however if you include one, you must include them all. There is also now a requirement for a company to have all the above details on its website and on any other electronic documents, e.g. business emails. Failure to include all of this information could lead to fines and even personal liability for legal agreements entered as a result of not complying with the requirements of the act.

If the company is going to start trading straight away then HMRC needs to be informed within three months. This can be done by completing form CT41G.

HMRC is notified every time a new company is incorporated with Companies House, so HMRC will usually automatically send out the CT41G to the registered office.

If the company will be dormant then you need to complete a form CT41G Dormant Company instead.

Companies House is the office of the Registrar of Companies in the UK. It has three main functions:

• the incorporation, re-registration, and dissolving of companies
• the registration of documents that must be filed under company, insolvency, and related legislation
• and the provision of company information to the public

Companies House needs to be informed of any changes to a company’s details (e.g. change of registered office, change of directors or secretary, etc.) and also of any changes to the personal details of the authorised officials.

The easiest and most efficient way to do this is to register for the Companies House WebFiling Service (see next question) and make the changes online with Companies House.

• Go to Companies House WebFiling
• If you have never registered for the Companies House WebFiling Service before, then you will need to register as a new customer. Enter your email address and click ‘Continue to Step Two’
• Select the following:
  You are using WebFiling on behalf of: a Company
  Company type: England/Wales
  Company number: You can get this from your company’s Certificate of Incorporation or from your ‘Company Information’ on BeanBalance
  Click ‘Continue’, check your details and click ‘Submit’. It should take less than 10 minutes for you to receive an email confirmation with your security code.

Go to Companies House WebFiling and sign in with your email address and the security code that Companies House has emailed you (see ‘How do I register for the Companies House WebFiling Service?’).

Select the following:
You are using WebFiling on behalf of: a Company

Company type: England/Wales

Company number: You can get this from your company’s Certificate of Incorporation or from your ‘Company Information’ on BeanBalance

Company authentication code: You can get this from your ‘Company Information’ on BeanBalance

Click ‘Continue’.

Log on to the Companies House WebFiling Service (See ‘How do I log in to the Companies House WebFiling Service?’).

On the ‘Menu’ page you will see all the options available for making changes to your company (e.g. add or remove directors, change the company’s registered address, etc).

Please remember that changes made here will only change details with Companies House. You will also need to inform HMRC of any changes to your company.

Log on to the Companies House WebFiling Service (See ‘How do I log in to the Companies House WebFiling Service?’).

Scroll down a bit and click on ‘Annual Return (£13 Charge) – AR01’.

Before you can change your company’s name you will need to check whether the new company name that you are thinking of is available.

If the name of your choice is available you’ll need to download and print the following two documents:
- Form NM01 change company name
- Special Resolution

Complete these two documents and post them to Companies House together with a £10 cheque made out to Companies House.

You will then receive a new Certificate of Incorporation from Companies House with your company’s new name.

Log on to the Companies House WebFiling Service (See ‘How do I log in to the Companies House WebFiling Service?’).

Click on 'Appoint an officer - (AP01, AP02, AP03, AP04)'. Select as appropriate and click ‘Continue’, then fill in all the details and click ‘Submit’

Log on to the Companies House WebFiling Service (See ‘How do I log in to the Companies House WebFiling Service?’).

Click on 'Appoint an officer - (AP01, AP02, AP03, AP04)'. Select as appropriate and click ‘Continue’, then fill in all the details and click ‘Submit’

You can see your company deadlines on Companies House WebCheck. Enter your company’s name or number and click ‘Search’.

If you enter your company’s name (or a part of it) a list of companies with similar names will appear. Look for your company and click on the company number on the left hand side.

The Accounting Reference Date is your company’s year-end date. It might show as 31/05 for example which would mean that your company’s year-end is the end of May each year.

Your company’s year-end date will always be the last day of the month in which you’ve incorporated it. For example, if you’ve incorporated your limited company on the 15th of February 2012 your company’s first year end date will be the last day of February one year later, so it will be 28 February 2013. Or if you’ve incorporated it on the 1st of March 2012 the first year end date will be 31 March 2013.

You cannot change the year end date for accounts that are already overdue with Companies House. Remember the period for filing is nine months from the company’s year-end date, except if it’s the company’s first accounting period, then it’s nine months from the first anniversary of your company’s incorporation date or three months from the end of the accounting reference date, whichever is later.

A company can shorten its accounting reference period as often as it likes but it cannot extend its accounting reference period more than once in any five year period. The first accounting reference period must be longer than 6 months but less than 18 months. There is no minimum period duration for subsequent accounting reference periods but any period cannot be longer than 18 months.

You can see your company deadlines on Companies House WebCheck. Enter your company’s name or number and click ‘Search’.

If you enter your company’s name (or a part of it) a list of companies with similar names will appear. Look for your company and click on the company number on the left hand side.

The Next Accounts Due date is the date that your company’s Annual Financial Statements have to be at Companies House. If you miss this deadline, even by just one day, you will have to pay a penalty.

PLEASE NOTE: Don’t confuse this with the Next Return Due date which refers to the due date for submission of your company’s Annual Shuttle Return.

Your company’s Annual Financial Statements have to be filed with HMRC within one year after the company’s year-end date. Any corporation tax due has to be paid within 9 months after the company’s year-end date.

You can see your company deadlines on Companies House WebCheck. Enter your company’s name or number and click ‘Search’.

If you enter your company’s name (or a part of it) a list of companies with similar names will appear. Look for your company and click on the company number on the left hand side.

The Next Return Due’ date is the date by which your company’s Annual Shuttle Return has to be submitted at Companies House. If you miss this deadline, even by just one day, you will have to pay a penalty.

PLEASE NOTE: Don’t confuse this with the Next Accounts Due date which is the date by which your company’s Annual Financial Statements are due.

The Annual Return or Annual Shuttle Return (form 363) can be filed online with Companies House. It is due to be filed every year and a few days after your company’s year end. The Return is about making sure that all the information that Companies House holds for your company is up to date and correct. Failure to submit your company’s Annual Shuttle Return on time will result in penalties and ultimately your company will be automatically dissolved and any money left in your business will be transferred to The Crown.

Annual Accounts are your company’s financial statements which are usually drawn up by an accountant. This will include detail of the financial transactions in your company for the year under review. Failure to submit your company’s Annual Financial Statements on time will result in penalties.

For Example:
A company’s Annual Accounts for the accounting period ending 30 September 2011 would need to be delivered by 30 June 2012 to avoid a late filing penalty. If they were delivered to Companies House on the 1st of July 2012 (or any other day in July 2012) the company will incur a late filing penalty of £150.

The penalties will be doubled if a company files its Accounts late for 2 consecutive financial years. This means that if the Annual Accounts for the company in this example are filed late and the Accounts for the subsequent period ending 30 September 2012 were delivered late as well, then you would incur a £300 late filing penalty.

Every company director has a personal responsibility to deliver statutory documents to Companies House as and when required by the Companies Acts. These include:

• Annual Accounts
• Annual Return
• Notice of Change of Directors or Secretaries
• Changes in Personal Details of Directors or Secretaries
• Change of Registered Office

You can notify Companies House of any changes online by logging in to the Companies House WebFiling Service (See ‘How do I log in to the Companies House WebFiling Service?’).

Yes, you will need to open a separate business bank account for your limited company. You are not allowed to use your personal bank account.

All banks must comply with stringent money laundering regulations and therefore will need to carry out standard checks before opening a new account.

Most banks will ask for copies of the following documents:

• Certificate of Incorporation
• Memorandum and Articles
• Share Certificates

All the above documents are available for download on BeanBalance. (If you incorporated your company through BeanBalance). To download the documents, log on to BeanBalance and download the Certificate of Incorporation and the Memorandum and Articles from the landing page. The Share Certificate is under the 'Shareholders' tab.

If you are opening a business bank with a different bank to the one you normally bank with then you will need to provide the bank with a copy of your passport and proof of address as well.

BeanBalance can recommend using HSBC for setting up your business bank account as we have found them to provide the best service. They usually open the business bank account within a couple of days after receiving all the necessary forms.