Do you need to register a Limited company?
The question of whether or not to register a Limited company is one of the first decisions you have to make when starting an Amazon FBA business in the UK. And I’ve written about this extensively and gone over all the pros and cons of operating as a sole trader vs a Ltd company so I won’t cover that all again now.
But long story short if your business is doing well then sooner or later you will want to register a Limited company for your Amazon FBA business, mainly due to the flexibility it gives you in terms of extracting as much profit while paying as little tax as possible.
And when you are ready to take things to the next level and move from a sole trader to a Limited company, you’ll have any decision to make – which formation company should you use!?
As you can see there are no shortage of options out there, with the prices and services also varying hugely.
Can you register a Limited company without an agent?
But before we get into the different companies and who I recommend, let’s take a little step back and first decide whether you even need to use a formation agent to register a Limited company in the first place?
The short answer here is no, you don’t need to use a formation agent and can simply register your company directly with Companies House.
This costs £12 and is a fairly simple process. There are some documents you’ll have to prepare and you’ll need to provide information on all people involved with the company who are shareholders or have significant control.
There’s a very useful guide on http://www.gov.uk which outlines all the steps involved and goes over everything you need to know to register your company.
Once completed your company is usually registered within 24 hours and you’ll receive a certificate of incorporation – a legal document which confirms the company’s existence and date of formation.
All pretty straightforward right?
So as I said you really don’t need a formation agent (despite what some of them make it seem like on their websites!) as it’s a fairly easy process with a lot of help available.
The benefits of using formation agents
BUT formation agents offer a number of additional services and extras that you may want to use! This includes:
• guidance on the type of company that best suits your needs
• assistance naming your company, including those that require permission
• ongoing company secretarial support
• registered office address services
• help setting up a business bank account
Coupled with the fact that their formation services are usually very reasonably priced, not costing much more than registering directly with Companies House, and I do recommend most people use them for peace of mind and to make sure everything is done correctly.
Now Companies House actually provide a full list of accredited companies who are able to submit incorporations.
But as you can see there are over 120 different options for you to consider! So as always I will make life easier and recommend the 3 best limited company formation agents, based on their reviews online, my own experience, and feedback from my trusted blog readers and Amazon Sharks members.
Without any further ado, here you go:
Your Company Formations
With 4.9* from almost 4,000 reviews on Trustpilot and amazingly priced packages, starting from just £12.48, Your Company Formations are my no.1 recommendation.
While their Digital package offers everything you need for the same price as you’d pay Companies House to incorporate directly, for most people the Privacy package at £27.48 will be the best option:
With this option you get everything in the Digital package plus printed copies of your certificate of incorporation and share certificates plus a registered office address and director’s service address.
Now this is very important and something a lot of people ask me about.
Can people see my details when I register a ltd company?
Yes! All companies are searchable and you are able to see the registered address, director, and director’s address.
So if you don’t have an office and are using your home address for this, which most people do, then this will be public record… and that’s where Your Company Formations come in! Using their Privacy package will allow you to use their address for your registered office and director’s service address.
That way if anyone searches for you or your company your details will be kept hidden.
Well worth the £27.48 fee, which is great value if you ask me!
If for whatever reason you don’t want to go with Your Company Formations then that’s fine, they’re not the only company offering address services, and there are plenty more good options out there.
1st Formations
1st Formations are my second recommendation, and with 4.9* from over 15,000 ratings on Trust Pilot, you know you’re in good hands here.
Once again their basic package costs just £12.99 and then you have multiple other options depending on which features / extras you need:
Rapid Formations
Last but not least we have Rapid Formations, who average 4.8* on Trust Pilot from over 10,000 ratings. Slightly less than our first two choices but still a very high score.
And actually I’m pretty sure that Rapid Formations and 1st Formations are white label versions of the same company as their websites are very similar, even down to their package names and prices:
That brings me very nicely on to the conclusion to today’s post.
Final Recommendation
While you don’t need to use a formation agent, I do strongly recommend it, as you really lose nothing and in fact you can see some significant savings if you need any of the extras such as registered addresses, as they cost significantly more if you’re signing up for them separately.
For example Rapid Formations charge £39 per year for their London registered office service.
In comparison their Privacy package gets you company formation, a London registered office, and a London director’s service address, all for £20!
That means you pay WAY less than registering yourself with Companies House and adding it on later, plus you save time.
It’s rare in business to have a no brainer decision, but this really is one.
So no need to overthink it, simply choose any of the 3 options and get your company registered, and let’s start making some money with Amazon FBA!
For those of you who are transitioning from a sole trader to a Ltd company on Amazon, I know there are a lot of horror stories out there about how difficult this is and how it can lead to your account being suspended for months.
But not to fear as most of this is scaremongering and I am going to write a separate blog post where I outline step by step how to make the changeover on Amazon without disrupting your business and losing precious time and money.
Until next time.
All the best,
Andrew
