Companies in the UK must be registered at Companies House. However, registering your company does not mean that all the formalities are complete. There are still a few things you need to do. So what should you do once you have registered a company at Companies House?
Registering a company at Companies House – what’s next?
Registering at Companies House means you are trading as a company. There is a separate register for the self-employed in the UK (HMRC).
A company usually involves more formalities than a sole trader and therefore more obligations after registration. What should you do once you have registered a company at Companies House? First and foremost, you need to deal with the tax formalities.
Registering for PAYE
First, you may need to register for PAYE. This is the UK system for collecting advance income tax and national insurance contributions.
Your company is the employer of its directors and employees. As an employer, you must pay PAYE tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for your directors/employees on each payment and pay Class 1 National Insurance Contributions (employer’s Class 1 NICs) if they earn above a certain threshold.
What else should you do after registering a company at Companies House? VAT and tax return
Registering for VAT is not mandatory for every company. However, this obligation will arise after exceeding a specific limit – reaching an annual turnover higher than the VAT threshold (currently £85,000). You must then complete and submit a tax return to HMRC.
Of course, you can always voluntarily register as a VAT payer, even if your company’s turnover does not exceed the specified threshold.
If you are a company director, you will usually need to complete a separate self-assessment tax return to tell HMRC about your personal income and expenses.
