Limited companies in the UK have to use a registered address by law. Companies House stores this address and it used by HMRC and other government entities for statutory mail and legal documents. You may think this is a simple and unimportant admin task.

But choosing the correct registered address for your limited company is vital to ensure privacy, safety and smooth business operations.

Choosing a registered address

Before choosing your registered address, remember that the details will be public and are available via Companies House. Anyone who wants to search for your details will be able to see it.

Therefore, many businesses decide not to use their residential address for privacy and security reasons. In lots of cases, accountants agree to be the registered address for companies. This means they receive official mail on behalf of their clients and forward it on when necessary.

Using the home address of a director would perhaps make life simpler – but there are many positives when using a non-residential address.

Using a non-residential address

The first positive point of using an address other than your home is that you won’t get unwelcome visitors or mail at your home address.

Secondly, a non-residential address gives a much more professional image to perspective clients.

Thirdly, a non-residential address creates a clear distinction between your personal and work life. It ensures you will not be bombarded with business-related paperwork at home.

And lastly, a registered address in a prestigious location could increase your business opportunities.

Using a residential address

If you do decide to use a residential property as your registered address, there are a few things you should bear in mind.

Firstly, you must get the property owner’s permission, so if you’re renting a home you should speak to the landlord. If your local council or housing association owns your home, you need written permission from them too.

Secondly, while you are not able to use a PO Box number as your registered office address, you can use a PO Box address if you provide Companies House with the complete, physical postal address.

Your accountant’s address

If you decide to ask your accountant to use their offices for your registered address, you can have the security that all official and important documents will go to them.

Your annual confirmation statement – which tells Companies House about your directors, and what shareholdings in your company they have, etc – are stored and in one place.

For HMRC, references, tax codes and tax bills are sent to the registered address.

These documents usually end up with your accountant, so get them sent straight there and they can be dealt with immediately?

If you would like to speak to us about using our address for your business, contact us today.

Our last blog looked at sole traders becoming limited companies and whether it was a good idea.

If you want to become a limited company after reading our advice, then one thing we mention is your paperwork increases.

So what do you need to file to stay legal? If you fail to look after these forms and taxes you could end up with surcharges.

Of course, we help our clients with these issues but it’s always a good idea to make sure you fully understand what is required of you. It helps you as well as us if you know what to look out for.

Company Accounts and Confirmation Statement

As a sole trader, you will have kept accounts to help you file your self-assessment tax form. Well, you need to do something similar as a limited company!

But rather than just being used for your self-assessment payment, your details need to be put on file with two government bodies.

Once a year you must file Company Statutory Accounts with Companies House. You must also submit them to HMRC.

These have to filed nine months after your ‘year-end’. HMRC receives full accounts while Companies House receives abbreviated accounts. They do not contain detailed reports such as your profit and loss account to help protect the performance of your business.

You must file a Confirmation Statement to Companies House too, which is a ‘snapshot’ of your business. This contains details such as shareholdings, your registered business address and who the directors are.

Limited companies and Corporation Tax Return

Limited companies must pay and file a return for Corporation Tax, which is basically tax paid on your company’s profits. You need to file (or your accountant will) a CT600 form with HMRC.

Before you file it, however, you need to do a ‘tax calculation’. This is calculated taking into account any allowances and reliefs to give you one figure. You then add this to your statutory accounts along with the CT600 form and file it all to HMRC.

Your CT600 has to be filed 12 months after your company’s financial year-end. But your payment has to be made sooner — in fact, 9 months and 1 day after the financial year-end.

We help our clients work out their dates as well as their allowances and reliefs to come up with the final taxable figure.

Payroll and PAYE

Pay As You Earn reports must be made monthly to HMRC. This is how your employees pay their income tax, but it’s a job for limited companies to carry out on behalf of the taxman.

When running payroll, your company takes each employee’s salary before tax and deducts:

• Income tax
• Their National Insurance
• Other deductions, such as pension contributions

All deducted amounts must be paid to HMRC and other relevant parties, such as student loan repayments. A full list of HMRC deductions are available on its website.

You have to then file a report of these figures to HMRC every time you ‘run payroll’ and pay employees.

You might also need to file pension automatic enrolment. This is usually for larger companies and having an accountant is beneficial the larger your company becomes.

Directors’ tax filing

Company directors must also file a self-assessment tax return for their earnings between 6 April to 5 April the following year. As with sole traders, these must be declared by 31 January to HMRC.

VAT filing for limited companies

If you have also voluntarily registered for VAT (check out our blog about that here) you need to submit a return every quarter.

Two things you must do are:

• File the return
• Pay the VAT

The return must be submitted 1 month and 7 days after the end of each quarter.

Becoming limited has its advantages but the extra paperwork may seem overwhelming. If you fear that the extra work will impact on your earning potential, speak to us or your accountant.

While bookkeeping software such as QuickBooks or Xero are helpful for keeping track of receipts, they don’t offer you the advice an experienced can give you.

Making a genuine mistake can often cost you in the long run, so it’s best for an expert to check your paperwork before you file.