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Your address service(s) will renew automatically, so you don't have to worry about this.

If you have an annual address service, you will receive a reminder email 3 to 7 days prior to the expiry date. No action is required and your renewal fee will be collected on the expiry date using the debit / credit card details we currently hold for you. Within this email you will also get the chance to check and update your card details, or add a new card.

If you wish to discuss the renewal of your address service(s), please call our Services Manager Angus Park on 020 8036 5037, and he will be happy to assist you.

It usually takes 24 hours to form a limited company, although it can take longer, dependent on Companies House workload on the day.

If it is important your company is incorporated as soon as possible or on the same day, we recommend you add the Guaranteed Same Day Service to your order.

Please note: We must receive your order no later than 3pm (Monday to Friday). Should we not receive all required information by this time, we will not be able to provide the same-day service, and you will receive a refund for this service.

Once we send your company application to Companies House, we cannot get any information on its progress - we just have to wait for it to be successfully incorporated or rejected.

As soon as it is incorporated, we will send your company documents to you by email. If in the event it is rejected, we will deal with it immediately and be in touch with you if necessary.

Details of your free .com or .co.uk domain name will be sent to you by email, as soon as your company is incorporated. Within the email message is a link to claim your free .co.uk or .com domain name with IONOS. The discount will automatically be applied at checking when using the link provided.

First of all, you will need to ascertain what your requirements are:

• What type of company do you need - limited by shares, limited by guarantee or LLP?
• Is it a priority to keep the price as low as possible?
• Do you need presentable printed documents, or will email versions suffice?
• Do you need VAT registration?
• Are you a non-resident of the UK?

We recommend visiting our compare packages page and having a look at our available company formation packages. If you need any help, please feel free to talk to our customer service team at 020 3897 2233.

We have created a useful guide which explains the difference between our address services. Please see our Company Addresses Explained guide for more information.

As we are not accountants, we are unable to provide accountancy services.

UK residents

During the order process, you will be presented with a number of our banking partners who offer a business bank account referral for your company, including Barclays, Natwest, Monzo, Tide and HSBC.
As soon as your company is incorporated, your chosen bank will contact you directly so you can open your business bank account.

Your bank account will be opened within either a few minutes or a few days, depending on which bank you have chosen.

Please note: This is a referral service only, and an offer of a business bank account is not guaranteed and not all applications are successful. All directors and shareholders in the company (or partners in your new LLP) must be UK residents.

Non-UK residents

If you purchase the Non-Residents Package or eSeller Package, you will be provided with a referral to WorldFirst, which will allow you to open a UK bank account without needing to visit the UK.

Alternatively, you can add a referral to WorldFirst at the end of the order process when purchasing the All Inclusive Package.

You can add a new card to your account by following the instructions below:

1. Login to your customer account.
2. Select 'Card Management' on your Customer Dashboard.
3. Agree to the terms and conditions and select 'Set up Payment Authority'.
4. Enter your preferred payment card details. Then select 'Pay Securely'.
5. Once through the secure checkout, the payment card details you have entered have now been saved as the Primary Card.

Please note, during secure checkout, your payment app may state an amount of £1.00 is paid to us; however, please be assured this does not actually happen, as the £1.00 is refunded before it leaves your account.

This email is sent when a customer has at least one address service, but we have received mail for their company which is not covered by this address service(s).

To clarify what each address service covers:

Registered Office Address Service covers mail addressed to your company, from all government departments and Court documents.

Service Address covers mail received from all government departments and Court documents, where the mail is addressed to a company officer (director or company secretary).

Business Address Service covers mail addressed to your company from any sender other than those listed above, e.g., general business correspondence, banks, suppliers, partners, and customers, etc.

To check which address service(s) you have, select 'My Services & Renewals' in the Customer Dashboard.

We offer Company Dissolution Service to all companies (as long as they have not traded in the last 3 months) which costs £89.99 +VAT.

If the company has traded, you will have to make sure all filing is up to date with Companies House and HMRC and all taxes are paid. We would recommend the use of an accountant.

To update your home address on our system, please carry out the following steps for each of the Primary address, Billing address and forwarding address (if you have active address services):

Primary and Billing Addresses

1. Login to the Online Customer Area
2. On the Customer Dashboard, select 'My Details'
3. Under 'Postal Address', select 'Choose Another' next to the Primary address
4. Select a recently used address or select 'Add New Address'
5. Click 'Submit' if adding a new address
6. Repeat for the Billing address

Forwarding Addresses for address services

You must carry out the below steps for each active address service you have:

1. Login to the Online Customer Area
2. On the Customer Dashboard, select 'My Services & Renewals'
3. Select one of your address services marked as 'Active' and click 'Details'
4. Click the Pencil icon next to 'Forwarding Address'
5. Select a recently used address or select 'Add New Address'
6. Click 'Submit' if adding a new address
7. Repeat these steps for all address services marked as 'Active'

It usually takes 24 hours to form a limited company, although it can take longer, dependent on Companies House workload on the day.

If it is important your company is incorporated as soon as possible or on the same day, we recommend you add the Guaranteed Same Day Service to your order.

Please note: We must receive your order no later than 3pm (Monday to Friday). Should we not receive all required information by this time, we will not be able to provide the same-day service, and you will receive a refund for this service.

Once we send your company application to Companies House, we cannot get any information on its progress - we just have to wait for it to be successfully incorporated or rejected.

As soon as it is incorporated, we will send your company documents to you by email. If in the event it is rejected, we will deal with it immediately and be in touch with you if necessary.

Details of your free .com or .co.uk domain name will be sent to you by email, as soon as your company is incorporated. Within the email message is a link to claim your free .co.uk or .com domain name with IONOS. The discount will automatically be applied at checking when using the link provided.

Immediately after your company has been incorporated by Companies House, we will send you an email attaching your new company documents and authentication code.

We have created a useful guide which explains the difference between our address services. Please see our Company Addresses Explained guide for more information.

You will find the authentication code in the email we sent you immediately upon incorporation of your company.

You can also log into your customer area on our website, where the code is displayed in your company's 'Overview' page, along with your company registration number.

Within two to three weeks of registering a new limited company with Companies House, HMRC will send a letter to your registered office address.

This letter is a CT41(G) Form which will contain your company's 10-digit Unique Taxpayer Reference number (UTR).

If you have misplaced this letter, you will need to contact HMRC directly to obtain a further copy of your UTR Number, as HMRC will only supply this information to the limited company.

For further information see: lost UTR number.

As we are not accountants, we are unable to provide accountancy services.

UK residents

During the order process, you will be presented with a number of our banking partners who offer a business bank account referral for your company, including Barclays, Natwest, Monzo, Tide and HSBC.
As soon as your company is incorporated, your chosen bank will contact you directly so you can open your business bank account.

Your bank account will be opened within either a few minutes or a few days, depending on which bank you have chosen.

Please note: This is a referral service only, and an offer of a business bank account is not guaranteed and not all applications are successful. All directors and shareholders in the company (or partners in your new LLP) must be UK residents.

Non-UK residents

If you purchase the Non-Residents Package or eSeller Package, you will be provided with a referral to WorldFirst, which will allow you to open a UK bank account without needing to visit the UK.

Alternatively, you can add a referral to WorldFirst at the end of the order process when purchasing the All Inclusive Package.

We have created a useful guide which explains the difference between our address services. Please see our Company Addresses Explained guide for more information.

First of all, you will need to ascertain what your requirements are:

• What type of company do you need - limited by shares, limited by guarantee or LLP?
• Is it a priority to keep the price as low as possible?
• Do you need presentable printed documents, or will email versions suffice?
• Do you need VAT registration?
• Are you a non-resident of the UK?

We recommend visiting our compare packages page and having a look at our available company formation packages. If you need any help, please feel free to talk to our customer service team at 020 3897 2233.

No documents are required to form a limited company online with 1st Formations.

Due to Anti-Money Laundering Regulations (MLR) and Know Your Customer (KYC) rules, we are required to verify your identity and address. Should our digital verification check(s) fail, we will need to check your proof of ID and address documents.

Yes. The suffix 'Limited' or 'LTD' is required to be used in all UK registered limited company names. You can choose which version you wish to use - 'Limited' or 'LTD' - they both mean the same thing.

In some types of limited by guarantee companies (non-profit), exemption to use 'limited' may be granted.

Anyone who is 16 or over and not disqualified from being a director or an undischarged bankrupt can be a director of a UK limited company.

Another company can also be a director, but at least one of the company's directors must be a natural person.

If you only require a company name and you do not wish to start trading, you should choose the Digital Package and confirm with HMRC that you have no intention of starting trading and you would like it considered dormant.

You should contact HMRC as soon as possible, by contacting the Corporation Tax department by phone, email or in writing. For further reading please see our Guide to Dormant Companies.

We offer Company Dissolution Service to all companies (as long as they have not traded in the last 3 months) which costs £89.99 +VAT.

If the company has traded, you will have to make sure all filing is up to date with Companies House and HMRC and all taxes are paid. We would recommend the use of an accountant.

We have created a useful guide which explains the difference between our address services. Please see our Company Addresses Explained guide for more information.

The cost of forwarding business address service mail is not included in the annual fee. This is stated prominently in several places on our website.

We are not able to include the forwarding of business mail within the annual fee (as we do with official mail with regards the registered office service), because the volume of mail is a big unknown. So we have to charge for this separately, as one customer could get 10 items a day, every working day, and our postal costs could far exceed the annual fee.

I do hope you understand our position on this matter.

This email is sent when a customer has at least one address service, but we have received mail for their company which is not covered by this address service(s).

To clarify what each address service covers:

Registered Office Address Service covers mail addressed to your company, from all government departments and Court documents.

Service Address covers mail received from all government departments and Court documents, where the mail is addressed to a company officer (director or company secretary).

Business Address Service covers mail addressed to your company from any sender other than those listed above, e.g., general business correspondence, banks, suppliers, partners, and customers, etc.

To check which address service(s) you have, select 'My Services & Renewals' in the Customer Dashboard.

Your address service(s) will renew automatically, so you don't have to worry about this.

If you have an annual address service, you will receive a reminder email 3 to 7 days prior to the expiry date. No action is required and your renewal fee will be collected on the expiry date using the debit / credit card details we currently hold for you. Within this email you will also get the chance to check and update your card details, or add a new card.

If you wish to discuss the renewal of your address service(s), please call our Services Manager Angus Park on 020 8036 5037, and he will be happy to assist you.

The annual cost of renewing your address services is:

• Registered Office £39.00 +VAT
• Service Address £26.00 +VAT
• Business Address £96.00 +VAT

Please call our Services Manager Angus Park on 020 8036 5037 if you wish to cancel your service(s), and he will be happy to assist you.

Yes. You can set up a UK limited company, however, you need to be 16 years old or over and not be a non-discharged bankrupt. You will also need a UK registered office, which must be a physical address in the UK.

No, you can form your company using any of our company formation packages, however, the Non-Residents Package provides you with a full set of address services that you will need to set up and run your company, as well as a UK business bank account from WorldFirst. It is also great value for money.

A registered office is the official address of a UK limited company, where all official government mail from Companies House and HMRC will be sent. It must be a physical address in the UK, however, your company does not need to carry out its business or trade from this address.

If you don't have a suitable UK address to use as your registered office, don't worry, the Non-Residents Package includes a registered office, service address and business (trading) address.

Company directors, shareholders, secretaries and PSC's (Persons with Significant Control) require providing a service address, when setting up a UK limited company. This address is used by Companies House and HMRC for official correspondence with company officers and shareholders.

Unlike the registered office address, the service address does not need to be in the UK, so you can use your residential address, however, it will be placed on the public record at Companies House.

Yes. All general business correspondence will be forwarded to your chosen correspondence address, anywhere in the world. The cost of forwarding mail to you, will be the Royal Mail postal charge plus a 15% handling fee.

All official government mail received as part of your registered office and service address services, will be scanned and emailed to you on a daily basis, free of charge.

Yes. We have partnered with WorldFirst to provide non-UK residents with a UK business bank referral including UK bank account number and sort code. A WorldFirst bank account referral is included in our Non-Residents Package.

If you do not wish to purchase our Non-Residents Package, please contact us and we will be happy to refer you to WorldFirst to apply for a WorldFirst UK business bank account. Account openings are subject to approval.

Yes. As a client of 1st Formations, you will get free support by telephone, email or live chat for the lifetime of your company. You will also have free access to our Online Customer Portal where you can make changes to your company, file updates and manage your address service renewals.

As we are not accountants, we are unable to file your annual accounts.

The only additional costs, over and above the cost of the Non-Residents Package will be the Royal Mail postal charges (plus 15% handling fee) incurred in forwarding your general business mail.

All official government mail received as part of your registered office and service address services, will be scanned and emailed to you on a daily basis, free of charge.

The Non-Residents Package is a company formation package, and so it does not renew, however, there are renewable services within the package: The three address services and the Full Company Secretary Service. If you choose to renew all 4 services, the cost will be £310.99 +VAT per year.

All customers, directors and Persons with Significant Control (PSCs) are required to confirm their identity using our secure Onfido app. The process is quick and easy—usually taking no more than five minutes—and the app is provided at no cost to you.

In most cases, we’re able to verify your residential address electronically. If we’re unable to do so, we’ll simply ask you to upload a valid proof of address via a secure online link that we'll send directly to you.

If you have any questions on ID, please contact our Compliance Team by email at id@1stformations.co.uk or telephone at 020 3955 7565. Our team of experts are standing by ready to assist you.

There are 2 types of ID that we require. Firstly, proof of ID (or identity), which could be a passport, national identity card or driving licence.

Secondly, proof of address, which is often a bank statement, utility bill for water, gas, electricity, broadband, or a Council Tax bill.

We’ll provide you with a free app that allows you to upload your proof of ID directly from your device. The process is simple and should take no more than five minutes to complete.

In most cases, we can verify your residential address electronically. If we're unable to do so, you’ll receive a secure link where you can upload the necessary proof of address.

For physical documents, clear scans or photos are acceptable in any file format. For digital documents such as online bank statements or utility bills, please upload the original downloaded PDF. Unfortunately, we’re unable to accept screenshots of digital documents.

Proof of address is required to demonstrate your current residential address. For clarity, that is the address at which you are physically residing at the time of placing your order. This is normally a bank statement, utility bill or Council Tax bill.

Proof of ID or identity is any form of government issued photographic ID, providing it contains a photo of you, your full name, your date of birth, and a clear expiry date (or date of issue with a defined period of validity). The best documents for this purpose are a passport, national identity card or driving licence.

Yes. We are an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP) and can verify the identity of officers and persons with significant control (PSCs) on behalf of Companies House.

When we submit your company formation application to Companies House, once your company has been formed, you will appear as ‘verified’ for ID purposes on the Companies House public register.

We will also carry out additional checks to comply with our anti-money laundering responsibilities, as we are supervised by HMRC for anti-money laundering purposes. The ID verification process is quick, simple, and free of charge. Typically it is completed within just a few minutes. You can read more about our ID Requirements here.

Yes, 1st Formations is an Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP), approved to carry out identity verification and submit company filings on behalf of clients, in compliance with Companies House regulations.

This status ensures we meet strict anti-money laundering and due diligence requirements, offering you a trusted and secure company formation service, whilst also ensuring that when forming a company with us, you automatically have your ID verified with Companies House at the same time.