This article will reveal a comprehensive guide on UK Business Formation/registration. Ultimately, you will be able to register your own business in the UK no matter where you are currently in the world. This also means, you will be able to open a verified stripe account, PayPal, etc.
Before we begin, here are my top three (3) recommended company registration agencies in the UK:
IncorpUK
Founded in 2020 and has Registered over 8,000 Businesses in the UK.
• UK Company Formation.
• Printed Share Certificate.
• 1 year Registered Office Address.
• 1 year Director Service Address.
• Free Online Company Assistant.
• UK, US Business Bank Accounts Setup.
• $300k in Perks and Rewards from Global Startups.
Get Started
1st Formation
Founded in 2014 and has Registered over 1,000,000 Businesses in the UK.
• UK Company Formation
• FREE Business Bank Account.
• Free .com or .co.uk Domain Name.
• London Registered Office Address FREE for 12 months.
• London Business Address Service FREE for 12 months.
• Full Company Secretary Service FREE for 12 months.
Get Started
Rapid Formation
Founded in 1999 and has Registered over 1,000,000 Businesses in the UK.
• Wise UK Business Banking.
• London Registered Office Address
(with same-day digital mail service).
• Free .com or .co.uk Domain Name.
• Business Telephone Number
Free for 12 Months.
• Free Online Company Manager.
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You can choose any of the three (3) recommended agencies above to register your business in the UK, however, for the sake of this tutorial, I will be demonstrating the registration process using Rapid Formations. Anyone from anywhere in the world can follow my step-by-step guide and succeed.
They have been around for a very long time and have a very good track record.
NOTE: When you register with Rapid Formations, you’ll have the option to automatically create a business account with popular payment gateways such as Stripe, PayPal, etc.
With that being said, let’s get started with the registration steps.
READ ALSO: Best LLC Formation Services and Agencies in the USA
UK Business Formation with Rapid Formations
Kindly follow me step-by-step as I walk you through the registration process. If you get confused at any point, feel free to reach out via the comment box or on my social media channels.
Alright, let’s get started.
Step 1. Go to Rapid Formations Website
There’s a package for UK Residents and another package for non-UK Residents. So, if you are from another country, simply select the non-UK Residents business package or just click on the button/link above to go straight to the page.
Scroll down and select the registration package to proceed to the next page.
Step 2. Search Your Company Name for availability
Enter the name of the business you want to register and search if the name is available or not.
If the name is available, you’ll be notified instantly, but if it’s not available, you’ll have to choose a different name. This process will take just a few seconds depending on your browsing speed.
Select Additional Services if you want (I’ll Recommend ‘Non-Residents Plus’)
Select the Non-Residents Plus package if you want extra services such as ‘UK company phone service, full company secretary service, an appointed company secretary, a dedicated account manager, preparation and filing of annual confirmation statements, etc.
These things are very important, so instead of hiring or paying for them later on at a higher cost, I’ll recommend you get everything once by choosing the Non-Residents Plus Package.
Step 3. Make Payment for Your Company Registration
You are required to make a payment of £147 or £199 depending on the package you selected for your business registration. Once you have done that, your business registration will begin.
Sit back and relax while they file for your UK Company, Setup your UK Registered Office Address, Director Service Address, Mail forwarding, and other Services.
All these processes will be completed within 2 weeks.
You will then receive your company certificate of incorporation and other official documents.
Once your company registration is completed, you’ll be able to set up your Business Banking Accounts and Payment Gateway accounts (e.g. Stripe, PayPal, etc)
If you have any questions, let me know in the comment below.
If you follow my step-by-step guide above, you should be able to open a stripe account directly from your Rapid Formations dashboard.
However, if you selected other registration agencies mentioned earlier at the beginning of this tutorial, then you can follow the steps below to open a UK-verified Stripe Account.
How to Setup a Verified Stripe Account
After you have registered your business in the UK, you will receive all the necessary documents.
You’ll need to use the registered company details (especially tax ID) to setup a verified Stripe account, and also, you need to be careful while doing this because their bots are intelligent enough and conversant to detect any mistake you make.
Make sure that the information you use is the same as the one on your registered business documents as I’ll show you below.
Step 1. Visit: Stripe.com and open a new account.
Make sure that the Country you select is the same as the one on your LLP or LTD company documents, (In our case, it is the United Kingdom).
Enter your email address, your name and password. Then click on create account to proceed.
Step 2. Confirm Your Email and log in to Your Stripe Dashboard
Check your email and confirm your email using the link they’ll send to you. Once you have done that, you will be taken to the next page as shown below:
Click on Activate payments, and you’ll be taken to the next page where you will enter the details of your business as it is on the documents you got after registering your business.
Step 3. Enter Your Business Details for Verification
Select ‘United Kingdom’ as your business location, type of business should be ‘Company’, for business structure, select ‘other’ if your type of business is not listed.
Click on Continue to proceed to the next step.
Your ‘Legal business name’ should be exactly the name on your company registration document.
Enter your CRN as stated in your registration documents.
‘VAT number’ may be optional now, but I’ll advise you enter it nevertheless because they still ask about it later when your business is fully operational. At least you won’t have to do it again.
One of the things I love about UK business registration agencies is that most of them give you a free business address, which is very essential in things such as this.
Make sure you enter the exact business address as it is on your company registration documents.
As for the ‘Business phone number‘ you can get one from Sonetel, Telusion or CallHippo.
Select your business industry, enter your business website and describe what your business do.
Once you are done with this, proceed to the next step.
Step 4. Verify your personal details (as the owner of the business)
This is where you enter your name, email address, job title, date of birth, etc.
At some point, you may be required to submit an ID to verify your identity. So make sure these information you are providing are the consistent with the ones on your ID card.
Select your country from the drop-down menu and then enter your home address as shown on your ID card. Remember this is very important.
For the ‘Phone number‘ option, you can select your country code and enter your local phone number. However, if you have a UK phone number, that will be perfect also.
Step 5. Select Business Representatives
From the form you have just filled above, you use the details in the next sections such as ‘Business owners’, ‘Business directors’, and ‘Business executives’.
As highlighted in the image above, you can add someone new or select yourself as the owner.
As highlighted in the image above, you can add someone new as the business director, or you can add yourself as the business director.
Do the same thing for the ‘Business executives‘ section.
Step 6. Describe how you fulfill orders
Select the options as they pertain to your business. You alone understand your business better.
Step 7. Customize how your business will look in public
When a customer makes a purchase on your website, this business information will be displayed, so make sure that your company is well represented by entering your Business name.
Step 8. Enter your bank details for quick payouts
If you do not have an account with the listed banks there, just click on the highlighted text as shown in the image above, and enter your virtual UK bank account details.
There are two best Options I will recommend for you.
- Visit www.wise.com
- Visit www.payoneer.com
Any of these two banks will create a UK bank account for you free of charge and you can then enter your banking details into your stripe dashboard. It’s very simple to do, all you need to do is follow the step-by-step instructions for each platform and you will be done in no time.
That is it, guys! Go ahead now, review, and submit your account application for verification. The Stripe team will review your application and verify you as long as your business details match the ones they find on your CRN. That is why it’s very important to have your CRN ready before applying.
Congratulations! Your stripe business account is fully set up and you can now start receiving payments worldwide.
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