How to stay compliant in your first year of business

Introduction

Are you feeling daunted by the compliance obligations you’re facing now that you've started a new business? This guide provides reassurance by outlining the steps you need to take to stay compliant in your first year of business. It highlights important filing obligations, such as the confirmation statement and the statutory records you’ll need to keep. It also outlines other requirements, like putting your company name on business stationery and fulfilling the Companies Act directors’ duties.

Breakdown of the documents required by each UK authority

After setting up a company, there are certain things you’re legally obliged to do within the first year of trading. The two organisations you’ll deal with are Companies House, the UK’s registrar of companies and HMRC, the UK’s tax authority.

What to do in the days after company incorporation

Keep accounting records

It’s important to keep accounting records for your company. You could face a £3,000 fine if you don’t. These records should cover the following:

• Money received and spent
• Company debts
• Company-owned assets
• Stock owned by the company at the end of the financial year, and how you’ve worked out your stock figure
• The goods the company has sold and who they were sold to
• The goods the company has bought and who they were bought from

Accounting records must be kept for six years after the financial year they cover. In certain circumstances, they need to be kept for a longer period.

Maintain statutory registers

You must hold a register of your company’s shareholders. This can be held and made available for public viewing either at your company’s registered office or at its Single Alternative Inspection Location (SAIL), where companies can keep statutory records and make them available for inspection.

As of 18 November 2025, you don’t need to hold a separate register of directors, company secretaries, and PSCs (people who own or control your company).

Send information to Companies House

You need to tell Companies House the following information:

• Names of your company’s directors and their residential addresses
• Details of company secretaries, if you have any
• Details of PSCs.

You must notify Companies House of any changes to these details within 14 days of the changes being made.

You also need to tell Companies House if you want to change your registered office address or email address. You can report information to Companies House either online or by using paper forms.

Keep company records

You need to record information about:

• The results of any shareholder votes and copies of the written resolutions
• Debentures – a promise to repay a loan to a certain person on a particular date in the future
• Indemnities – a promise to make a payment if there’s a problem and it’s your company’s fault
• When shares in the company have been bought
• Any loans or mortgages that have been secured against your business’ assets
• Minutes of general and directors’ meetings
• Accounting records
• Directors’ service contracts

If these records aren’t held at your company’s registered office address, you must tell Companies House.

Register for PAYE

If you plan to pay yourself or any other directors or employees a salary of more than £96 per week, you need to register for PAYE. PAYE is an HMRC system that collects Income Tax and National Insurance from those in employment. You also need to register for PAYE if any of the following apply to your employees:

• They get a pension
• They’ve had another job
• They get company benefits and expenses
• They've received the following benefits: Incapacity Benefit, Employment and Support Allowance, or Jobseeker’s Allowance

You need to keep payroll records even if you don’t need to register for PAYE.

Display company details

You need to display a sign with your company name on it at your registered company address and anywhere else that your business operates. The sign should be visible and easy to read at all times. If you run your business from home, you don’t need to display a sign.

You also need to include certain information on business documents. All documents need to include the name of your company. Your website, business letters, and order forms also need to show the following information:

• Your company’s registered office address
• Your company’s registered number
• Your company’s status as a limited company (for example, by including ‘ltd’ at the end of the company name)
• Where your company is registered

There are different requirements for invoices.

Comply with your duties as a director

You and any other directors of your company must comply with the directors’ duties outlined in the Companies Act 2006.

What to do within 30 days

Register for VAT

Value-added Tax (VAT) is applied to products and services sold by in-scope businesses. If you expect your company’s total taxable turnover to exceed the VAT threshold of £90,000 in the first 30 days of trading, you’ll need to register for VAT. You’ll also need to register for VAT if your turnover goes over £90,000 in the first 12 months of trading.

You can choose to register for VAT if your turnover is below £90,000, but this is voluntary and not a legal requirement.

If you’re late registering for VAT, you might need to pay a penalty. The penalty is calculated as a percentage of the VAT owed; the minimum charge is £50.

File a VAT return

Once you’ve registered your company for VAT, you’ll be required to file a VAT return with HMRC every three months, known as your VAT accounting period. The deadline for submitting your VAT return is one calendar month and seven days after the end of the 3-month accounting period. You also need to pay any VAT you owe by that time, so ensure you allow sufficient time for the payment to reach HMRC.

VAT deadlines and penalties don't need to be daunting. Many specialists can help make sure you get it right. For example, 1st Formations offers a VAT registration service.

What to do within three months

Register for Corporation Tax

Corporation Tax is applied to a business’ profits. You must register your company for Corporation Tax within the first three months of trading.

How to register for corporation tax

You’ll need to set up a Government Gateway account and add Corporation Tax services to your business tax account. To do this, you’ll need to know:

• Your company’s registration number
• The date you started trading
• The date you’ve made your first accounts up to
• Your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), which is sent to you by HMRC after your company has been registered, is also included in any letters HMRC sends to you. If you can’t find your UTR, you can request it online.

You can add Corporation Tax services to your business tax account by signing into your account and selecting ‘services you can add; corporation tax; enrol for service.’

HMRC will send you a Corporation Tax activation code within 10 days, along with instructions on how to activate the service and the deadline to pay the tax you owe. If you don’t receive an activation code, or the one you have expires, you can request a new one online.

Self Assessment

If you’re a sole trader or in a partnership, you don’t need to register for Corporation Tax. Instead, you need to send a Self Assessment tax return to HMRC, covering the previous tax year. It can be submitted between 6 April and the deadline of 31 January.

If you receive dividends or director’s loans from your company, you’ll also need to file a Self Assessment tax return.

Dormant companies

If your company hasn’t started trading yet, it will be considered dormant for Corporation Tax, which means you don’t need to pay it. You may receive a letter from HMRC stating that they’re treating your company as dormant. Also, tell HMRC that you consider your company dormant.

By end-of-year

Submit your confirmation statement

The confirmation statement confirms that the information Companies House holds about your company is correct. You must submit one to Companies House one year after your company was formed and then every year after that, even if your company is dormant.

You can send the confirmation statement up to 14 days after the date the company was formed. The cost is £34; this will rise to £50 from February 2026. If you don’t send a confirmation statement, there’s a £5,000 fine, and your company could be struck off.

The confirmation statement covers the following areas:

• Whether your company is still needed
• Whether your company’s future activities will be lawful
• Details of the company’s shareholders, share capital, trading status, and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes (SIC codes classify your company’s main business activity)
• Whether the rest of the information Companies House has about your company is correct. For example, details of the registered office address, directors, and people with significant control

If nothing has changed, you just need to confirm that the information is still correct.

If you’re worried about missing the confirmation statement filing window or making a mistake, you can get help from third parties like 1st Formations. We can help you file your confirmation statement accurately and on time.

Top tips for staying compliant

Once key deadlines have been put in place, they will be the same each year. You can keep on top of them by adding them to your calendar as recurring events. If you set reminders, you’ll receive notifications in advance of the deadlines, allowing you time to prepare.

If you’re keen to focus on your core business offering, you may prefer to outsource compliance to a third-party provider. Doing so can free up time to focus on growing your business. It will also give you peace of mind that everything has been done correctly and on time, meaning you don’t need to worry about possible fines or penalties. The money you spend on expert support may well be earned back in increased profits from giving your full attention to your business.

There are many ways 1st Formations can help, for example, through our Full Company Secretarial Service.