What to do after setting up a limited company

Introduction

After incorporating a limited company, there are several essential steps you must take to remain compliant and legally operate your business. This guide outlines your post-incorporation responsibilities, including receiving and storing official documents, registering for Corporation Tax, filing with Companies House, issuing share certificates, maintaining statutory registers, and setting up VAT, PAYE, insurance, and a business bank account. By following these requirements, you’ll ensure full compliance as a company director and avoid costly fines or penalties.

Once you’ve set up your limited company, you’re legally responsible as a director for maintaining company records, accounts, and performance. You can be fined, prosecuted, or disqualified from being a director if you don’t fulfil these obligations.

This checklist will guide you through the actions you must take after your company is registered with Companies House.

Post-incorporation checklist

1. Keep your post-incorporation documents at your company’s registered office address and make them available for inspection.
2. Open a business bank account.
3. Keep accounting records. You can be fined £3,000 and/or disqualified as a director if you don’t.
4. Consider appointing an accountant.
5. Issue share certificates and shareholder agreements.
6. Maintain statutory records and company records.
7. Keep company details held by Companies House up to date.
   • Tell Companies House who your directors, PSCs and company secretaries are. Notify Companies House of any changes within 14 days.
   • Tell Companies House your company’s registered office address and email address.
8. Display required company information.
9. Register for Corporation Tax with HMRC within the first 3 months of trading.
10. File a confirmation statement with Companies House one year after your company is formed. You can be fined £5,000, and your company could be struck off if you don’t do this.
11. File your annual accounts with Companies House 9 months after the end of your financial year. You can be disqualified as a director for not doing this.
12. Pay your Corporation Tax bill, which is due 9 months and 1 day after the end of your company's accounting period. You could be disqualified as a director for not paying the tax your company owes.
13. File a Company Tax return using the CT600 Company Tax Return form. This must be done within 12 months after the end of your company’s accounting period (usually a 12-month period covered by your annual accounts). If you don’t file your tax return by this deadline, you could face a penalty.
14. If necessary, acquire business insurance.
15. Register with HMRC for PAYE and VAT if applicable.

1. Keep your post-incorporation documents safe and accessible

After incorporating your company, you’ll receive key post-incorporation documents. These include your Certificate of Incorporation from Companies House, which verifies that your company has been successfully registered with them. The Certificate of Incorporation contains the following important information about your company:

• Its name
• Registration number
• The date it was incorporated
• The Registrar’s seal

If you formed your company through a company formation agent like 1st Formations, you’ll also receive your memorandum and articles of association and share certificates. These are often referred to as company formation documents, or post-incorporation documents.

It’s a legal requirement to store a copy of these documents at your company’s registered office and make them available for inspection.

2. Open a business bank account

Although it’s not a legal requirement, it’s good practice to open a dedicated business bank account when your limited company begins trading.

As a director of your company, you cannot use your limited company’s funds for personal expenses without tax implications. Company and personal finances must remain separate. A dedicated business bank account maintains your company's legal identity and reduces bookkeeping complexity.

3. Keep accounting records

You’re required to keep accounting records for your company. You could face a £3,000 fine if you don’t. Failure to keep proper accounting records is considered unfit conduct that could lead to you being disqualified as a director.

Accounting records must be kept for 6 years after the financial year they cover. In certain circumstances, they need to be kept for a longer period.

Your company’s accounting records should outline the following information:

• 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

You also need record the information you’ll need for compiling and submitting your annual accounts and company tax return. For example, records of the money spent by the company (receipts, orders, delivery notes) and the money received by the company (invoices, contracts, sales books). Banks statements and other financial correspondence should also be recorded.

4. Consider appointing an accountant

You’re not legally required to appoint an accountant, but doing so may give you peace of mind that your accounts are accurate and that your company is complying with its tax and reporting requirements.

5. Issue share certificates and prepare shareholder agreements

A share certificate is a legal document that verifies an individual holds a certain number and class of shares in a company. You must issue a share certificate to anyone who holds shares in your company within two months of the person receiving the shares.

A shareholder agreement is a private contract that set outs the rights and obligations of your company’s shareholders. It’s not legally required, but it’s recommended if there are multiple shareholders in your company. A shareholder agreement can minimise conflict between shareholders by providing clarity on how any dispute would be handled.

6. Maintain statutory registers and company records

Another critical post-incorporation requirement is to hold a statutory register of your company’s shareholders. This should 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).

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.

7. Keep company details held by Companies House up to date

You need to provide Companies House with details of your company’s directors, PSCs, and company secretaries. You should notify Companies House within 14 days of making any changes to these details.

You also need to notify Companies House of changes to your company’s registered office address, or the address where you keep your records, and changes to the company’s email address.

8. Display required company information

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.

9. Register for Corporation Tax with HMRC

Corporation Tax will be applied to your company’s profits. You must register your company for Corporation Tax with HMRC within the first 3 months of doing business. Failing to register your company with HMRC for Corporation Tax is one of the most common mistakes new limited companies make in the UK.

10. File a confirmation statement with Companies House

You must submit a confirmation statement one year after your company is formed and every year after that. The confirmation statement confirms that the information Companies House holds about your company is correct. If you don’t send a confirmation statement, there’s a £5,000 fine, and your company could be struck off.

11. File your annual accounts with Companies House

You’ll need to report your company’s financial activities to Companies House in your annual accounts. The annual accounts are also important when it comes to calculating Corporation Tax. If you don’t send your company’s accounts to Companies House, this can be viewed as ‘unfit conduct’, which can lead to you being disqualified as a director.

Your first set of annual accounts are due 21 months after you registered your company with Companies House. After that, they’re due 9 months after the end of your company’s financial year.

12. Pay Your Corporation Tax bill

Your Corporation Tax bill is usually due 9 months and 1 day after the end of the previous accounting period. Corporation Tax is charged at 25% of profits over £250,000 and 19% of profits of £50,000 or less.

Failure to pay the tax your company owes is considered ‘unfit conduct’. You can be disqualified from being a director if you’re found to have done this.

13. File a Company Tax Return

After you’ve registered your company for Corporation Tax, you’re required to file a Company Tax Return. This needs to be completed even if your company has made a loss or doesn’t owe any Corporation Tax.

Your tax return should be filed with HMRC by completing the CT600 Company Tax Return form.

You must file your tax return by the deadline of 12 months after the end of your company’s accounting period. There are penalties for late filing.

14. Identify and obtain required business insurance

You should consider whether you need to take out insurance to protect your business from certain types of risk.

Employers’ Liability insurance is mandatory if you have employees and protects against employee injury and illness.

Other types of insurance to consider are:

• Public Liability insurance, which protects against property damage or injury to customers or clients * Motor Insurance
• Cyber Insurance, which protects against data breaches

15. Register with HMRC for VAT and PAYE (if applicable)

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.

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.

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 a HMRC system that collects Income Tax and National Insurance from those in employment.

Final compliance tips

Remember, you can be penalised if you don’t fulfil certain obligations or if you don’t meet certain deadlines. Add important deadlines into your calendar and set multiple reminders to help you remember them.

Need help staying compliant? 1st Formations offers a Full Company Secretary Service, which helps you stay ahead of deadlines and keep on top of both legal obligations and admin tasks.