Registering My Company

MooMan

Hi all,

This is my first post, so a big hello to everyone.

I am in the process of setting up my own online advertising company.

The domain name has been purchased, and the website is in the process of being developed.

Do i still need to register the company with Companies House - or am I covered just by registering the domain name with 123-reg?

I would be grateful for any relevant feedback as I dont want to end up in any bother.

Thanks,

Moo

Kaybenson

In my opinion, you still need to register the company with company house.

Registering domain name is for the website only.

chalkie99

Are you actually setting up a Company? As in forming a Limited Liability Company which will automatically be registered at Companies House or are you going to be a "Sole Trader" as in "your name" trading as something?

Registering your domain will not protect your business name nor stop someone else registering a different domain ending such as .com or .biz, etc.

MooMan

To be honest i am not 100% sure what i need to set it up as.

Basically i have bought the domain name, and i am selling the space, alongside a friend who is my web developer.

As an example, I checked the WEBCHeck list for Facebook and that doesnt come up at all. The reason i chose them is that they sell advertising space, and are a running business!

Ive also searched for a company that is based on the same idea as mine, and i cannot find their web address being registered.

So this also brings me to think, do i register it as the short name of the domain (company name) or do i register it as the co.uk?

paddyrg

I'm sorry I still don't understand the question, it is quite vague (eg 'register' applying to coshse and domain name)

Either way, this is a question for your accountant really, as you seem to be cautious about giving away too much detail on a public forum (which isn't a bad thing), so take professional advice. Bear in mind the company structure you choose should not be casual or vain, once you're in business you're into "grown-up" world where wooliness and imprecision can be very expensive mistakes!!

Kaybenson

MooMan wrote: »

Ive also searched for a company that is based on the same idea as mine, and i cannot find their web address being registered.

So this also brings me to think, do i register it as the short name of the domain (company name) or do i register it as the co.uk?

You seems to be particular about web presence probably because it is internet based business.

1) you can take .co.uk or .com. i think you can also take both and use one to 'point' to the other

2) You still need to register with company house unless you intend to evade tax which is a criminal offense.

MooMan

After calling Company House, they have informed me that i would only need to register the domain name :S

I am still confused and think i might as well just spend the money on registering the name with them to avoid any issues.

MooMan

Kaybenson wrote: »

You seems to be particular about web presence probably because it is internet based business.

1) you can take .co.uk or .com. i think you can also take both and use one to 'point' to the other

2) You still need to register with company house unless you intend to evade tax which is a criminal offense.

I dont think i made myself clear about the first answer.

I meant, if i need to register with Company House, do i register it with them as COMPANYNAME or being that its a web based company, do i register it as COMPANYNAME.CO.UK

I do apologise for my vagueness but i just want to make sure everything is done correctly.

martindow

Kaybenson wrote: »

2) You still need to register with company house unless you intend to evade tax which is a criminal offense.

If you want to set up as a limited company go to Companies House. But it is not a criminal offence to set up as a sole trader or partnership if you wish, provided you tell HMRC you are trading and pay your tax and NI.

As has been said you need to decide how you want to set up your business perhaps by talking to an accountant.

Regshoe

Kaybenson wrote: »

You seems to be particular about web presence probably because it is internet based business.

2) You still need to register with company house unless you intend to evade tax which is a criminal offense.

I don't wish to appear overly condescending but that is not correct.

In response to the OP:

First thing to clarify is whether you are actually looking to setup a Limited Company or simple trade as an unincorporated sole trader. Without knowing further details it is impossible to know what is best for you. You use the word "company" which would seem to imply that you intend to operate as a Ltd company - but a lot of people use the word "company" when they simply mean self employed. It is fine to trade without being registered with Companies house as a limited company. For example I am trading as XXXX Accountancy (obviously it is not actually XXXX but you aren't supposed to self promote on this forum) but I am not incorporated and therefore not registered with Co. House.

The choice has implications for tax, accountancy fees (if you are using an accountant), liability and the amount of admin work and record keeping required. It is not a decision to be taken lightly as unincorporating can be a bit of a hassle. I suggest you go and look on the Business Link website for a quick overview, then google something like "incorporation advantages" for more detail - or if you are intending to use an accountant then they can point you in the right direction.

If you decide to trade as a sole trader - you DO NOT need to register with companies house.

From what I can gather you seem to mostly be concerned with protecting your name and ensuring that you don't infringe on trading names used by other organisations. Although it's true that you can't register two companies with exactly the same name on Co. House the act of registering a name does not really give you that much protection, though it could be seen as persuasive.

If you do decide to register as an incorporated company then you would register your name without any .co.uk or .com ending, check out:

http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/gbhtml/gp1.shtml

under section 6:

---

4. What will be disregarded? The full list is set out in the regulations. They include:

• designated name endings (including permitted abbreviations and Welsh equivalents), e.g. "limited", "unlimited", "public limited company";
• certain words and expressions including "biz", "co", "co.uk", "com", "company", "UK", "United Kingdom", "Wales", "Cymru", "net", "org.uk", "services", "international";
• a blank space between or after a word, expression, character, sign or symbol;
• punctuation including a full stop, comma, colon, bracket, apostrophe;
• characters "*", "=", "#", "%" and "+" when used as one of the first three characters in a name;
• "s" at the end of a name (irrespective of whether it is a plural) ;
• "the" and "www" at the beginning of a name;
• any characters after the first 60 characters in a name.

---

So as far as they are concerned XXXX Accountancy is the same as https://www.XXXXAccountancy.com (for example), so you would register without the extra bits at the start and end.

Hope that answers your question.

MooMan

Thanks for the info.

Looks like ive got a lot more work ahead of me .

All the best.