Forming a Private Limited Company in the UK via Companies House

Forming a private limited company in the UK is, on paper, one of the fastest incorporation processes in the world — a digital application can be approved within 24 hours. But the process behind that speed has changed substantially in the past two years. Companies House raised its fees twice, gained new powers to verify who is actually behind a company, and is in the middle of rolling out the biggest reform to how the UK's company register works since it was created. This guide covers the process as it actually stands today, including which reforms are already in force and which are still being phased in.

Choosing How to Register

There are three practical routes to incorporate a private company limited by shares in England, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland, all administered by Companies House:

• Standard digital registration, filed directly through the GOV.UK/Companies House online service, currently costs £100 and is normally processed within 24 hours.
• Same-day digital registration, filed via approved third-party formation software before 11am on a working day, costs £156 and is typically approved the same day.
• Paper registration, filed on Form IN01 by post, costs £124 and takes roughly 8 to 10 days — the slowest and most expensive route, kept mainly for applicants who can't or won't file digitally.

These figures took effect for companies incorporated from 1 February 2026 — Companies House had already raised fees once in 2024, and this is the second increase since. Because Companies House has changed its fee schedule twice in under two years, confirm the current figure on GOV.UK immediately before filing rather than relying on any fixed number, including the ones above.

What You Need to Register

Name and Registered Office

The company needs a name that isn't the "same as" an existing registered name and doesn't use certain restricted or sensitive words without permission. Since March 2024, Companies House also has new powers to challenge and force a change to a company name after registration if it's misleading or was obtained improperly, so the traditional advice to simply clear the name-availability search before filing is no longer the end of the story.

The registered office address requirement changed meaningfully under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA), effective from 4 March 2024: it must now be an "appropriate address," meaning a physical location where post addressed to the company can reasonably be expected to come to the attention of someone acting on the company's behalf, with delivery capable of being acknowledged. A PO box on its own no longer qualifies, though a PO box that forms part of a fuller, deliverable street address can still work. Companies must also now supply a registered email address to Companies House — a separate, additional requirement from the same reform. A company that doesn't maintain a valid appropriate address risks Companies House substituting a default address and, ultimately, risks being struck off the register.

Directors, Shareholders, and Governing Documents

A private company needs at least one director who is a natural person — a real individual, not another company. A separate ECCTA reform will go further and restrict the use of corporate directors generally, requiring any permitted corporate director to itself be a UK-registered body corporate whose own board consists entirely of natural persons who have verified their identity, and banning overseas corporate directors outright — but this specific restriction has been delayed and, per Companies House's own transition plan, is not expected before November 2026 at the earliest. It is not yet in force.

Incorporation also requires a one-time memorandum of association (which cannot be changed after registration), articles of association (the UK's default "Model Articles" apply automatically unless the company files bespoke articles), at least one shareholder, identification of anyone with significant control over the company (a Person with Significant Control, or PSC — broadly anyone holding more than 25% of shares or voting rights, or with other means of significant influence), and a Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code describing the company's business activity.

The New Identity Verification Requirement

The single biggest operational change to UK company formation in years is mandatory identity verification, also introduced by ECCTA and in force since 18 November 2025. Every director, PSC, and — for LLPs — every member or general partner must verify their identity with Companies House, either directly through GOV.UK One Login or through an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) such as an accountant or formation agent. Anyone newly appointed as a director or newly registered as a PSC from 18 November 2025 onward must verify at the point of appointment. Anyone who already held one of these roles before that date has a 12-month transition window — commonly tied to the company's next confirmation statement — to complete verification. Companies House has said it will not prosecute non-compliance during this initial transition period, but continuing to act as a director without verifying, once required, is a criminal offence, and a company cannot be newly formed, nor file a confirmation statement, without the necessary verification codes in place.

What Happens After You Register

Successful registration produces a Certificate of Incorporation, stating the company's name, unique company number, date of incorporation, and whether it is private or public and limited or unlimited. Under the Companies Act 2006, this certificate is conclusive evidence that the registration requirements were met and the company is duly incorporated. But incorporation is the start of a compliance calendar, not the end of one:

• Corporation Tax registration with HMRC is required within 3 months of the company actually starting to trade — not from the date of incorporation itself, which can be earlier.
• A confirmation statement — the modern replacement for the old annual return, in place since 2016 — must be filed at least once every 12 months, within 14 days of the review period ending.
• Annual accounts must be filed with Companies House 9 months after the company's accounting reference date each year, though the very first set of accounts is due later — 21 months after the date of incorporation.
• A Company Tax Return (CT600) must be filed with HMRC within 12 months of the end of the accounting period, though Corporation Tax itself must actually be paid earlier — 9 months and 1 day after the period ends.

One practical filing change worth flagging for anyone used to the old process: the free joint HMRC/Companies House online filing service (which let very small companies file accounts and a tax return together for free) permanently closed on 31 March 2026. From 1 April 2026 onward, accounts and the CT600 must be filed separately, generally through commercial accounting software, Companies House's own web filing service, or paper.

A Reform That's Coming, But Not Yet

A further ECCTA-driven change would remove small and micro companies' current option to file abridged or "filleted" accounts, and require them to file a full profit and loss account for the first time (though with an opt-out from public disclosure of that P&L specifically). This was originally expected to roll out around 2025–2027, but Companies House paused it in January 2026 and has since rescheduled it to April 2028. As of today, small and micro companies can still file abridged accounts under the existing rules — this is a genuine, confirmed future change, not something that applies to a company registering right now.

Sources & Further Reading

• GOV.UK — Register a private limited company and current fee schedule (companies house web incorporation service)
• Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, and Companies House's published ECCTA transition plan
• Companies Act 2006, ss. 15, 442 (certificate of incorporation; accounts filing deadlines)
• GOV.UK — Guidance on verifying your identity for Companies House

Practical Next Steps

Before filing, confirm the current registration fee and the current registered-office and identity-verification requirements directly on GOV.UK, since all three have changed within the past two years and are likely to change again. If you'll be a director or a person with significant control, plan to complete identity verification at the same time as incorporation rather than treating it as a later formality. Once registered, set calendar reminders for your Corporation Tax registration, confirmation statement, and first accounts deadlines immediately — missing any of them is one of the most common (and most avoidable) ways a new UK company runs into trouble with Companies House or HMRC. For the general, worldwide picture of how company formation works, see How to Form a Company: A Practical Overview.

This article is general legal information, not legal advice. UK company law and Companies House fees and procedures change frequently — confirm the current requirements on GOV.UK and consult a UK solicitor or accountant before incorporating.