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Congratulations! You have a contract on the horizon – but nowyou need to set up your own interim limited company. So wheredo you start? Here are the key things you need to consider:

The next thing you need to think about is shareholders. Will it justbe yourself or do you want your spouse or civil partner to also be ashareholder? Certainly worth considering at the outset as anydividends that are paid out of your company profits are divided

according to the amount of shares each shareholder owns. This, ofcourse, can be of benefit if the shareholders fall into different tax

brackets but beware – the rules are complex so worth taking advicebefore you decide.

For more information about shares and shareholders click here.

Shareholders

Then you need to consider who you are going to appoint to be thedirectors. Whereas the shareholders own the company, the directorsare responsible for the day to day running of the business. They arealso legally responsible for the filing of returns and the preparation of

the accounts but, in reality, this is normally delegated to anaccountant. Every company needs at least one director.

Directors

Are you going to have a Company Secretary? There is no longer alegal obligation to have one for a private limited company, but a

Company Secretary normally deals with all the necessarycompliance issues, so it is common practice to appoint your

accountant as your Company Secretary, as they will need to dealwith this for you. Take note, a Company Secretary cannot sign

cheques on your behalf.

CompanySecretary

The registered office is where HMRC send their formal notices andcorrespondence and therefore it makes sense for the registered address to be

your accountant’s address. The service address can be the directorsresidential address, the registered office address, or even somewhere else, aslong as it is an address where the director can be contacted. To maintain yourprivacy and ensure your personal details are not easily accessible to the

general public, again, it is advantageous to use your accountant’s address asyour service address.

Different addresses – private, registered, service

Companies House keep two registers ofcompanies, the private register and the publicregister. The private register contains theresidential address for every director. Thepublic register lists the registered office and thedirector’s service address.

So when you are ready to set up your company just contact youraccountant and they will organise it all for you.

It’s normally a very quick procedure, taking less than a day, and onceyour company has been set up you will be all ready to get started

signing your first contracts.