Documents Required to Create a Company

If you're planning to create a private company, you will need to first pull together certain documents. For business start-up, the documents are very specific and aim to tell Companies House about the business and how it will be run.

Form IN01: Companies House requires a completed copy of Form IN01, which is the application to register a limited company. This form is where you will provide all the basic information about your company. This includes the name, address, and type of company you are registering. Form IN01 also gives you the opportunity to list the proposed officers. You will also be asked to provide information about the capital going into the limited company.

Another requirement is a memorandum of association. This is a short document, written in a specific format that confirms your intention to incorporate your business. This does not need to include elements like who the shareholders are, nor should it include all the details of how the business will be run.

Articles of association: you will also need to provide the articles of association. The one exception to this requirement is if you have adopted model articles in their entirety. This document is the basic guidelines of how the incorporated business will be run. This document is legally binding, so it is important to ensure that the rules you set out here are ones that you intend to follow for the life of the company.

If you do not have any specific needs for your company, you can choose to adopt model articles. These are a set of articles of association that have been written in the legislature. They can be used in their entirety, in which case they do not need to be submitted with your application, or used as a skeleton for your own articles.

Additional information: you may also need to provide additional information about your application if it includes a sensitive word or expression. These words and phrases are a specific list set by legislation. In general, you will need special approval if the name you have chosen could imply that you have special eminence or status, including association with any government body, or if they could cause criminal offence.