Registering a Business in the UK: A Clear Guide for Female Entrepreneurs

You’ve decided it’s real. The idea has paying customers, or nearly. Now there’s a form to fill in, and every website seems to say something slightly different.

Here’s the short version, in the order you’ll need it.

First, decide what you’re registering

Most women start as a sole trader or as a limited company.

• Sole trader. You register with HMRC for Self Assessment. The business is you. It’s simple to start, and the paperwork stays light. You must register by 5 October after the end of the tax year in which you started trading.
• Limited company. You register with Companies House, and the company is a separate legal person. There’s more admin, and more separation between the business and your own money.

If you’re not sure which one fits, that’s normal. It depends on your income, your risk and your plans, so it’s worth a conversation with an accountant before you file.

If you’re forming a limited company

You’ll need:

• a company name that isn’t already taken
• at least one director
• a registered office address in the UK
• details of anyone with significant control (often just you)
• the incorporation fee (£100 online, as of October 2026)

Identity verification. Companies House now requires directors and people with significant control to verify their identity. Since 18 November 2025, new directors must be verified before they can form a company or be appointed, and new PSCs must verify when they’re added or within 14 days. Do this early so it doesn’t hold up your filing.

Protect your home address

Your registered office address appears on the public register. Plenty of women working from home don’t want their family address online.

You can use a registered office service instead. They’re often low-cost, though prices vary. Companies House requires an “appropriate address”: somewhere official documents will reach someone acting for the company, and where delivery can be acknowledged. A PO Box doesn’t count. Check that the provider is a real, UK-based service, and that it forwards official post.

Your director’s service address can be different from your home address too.

After you register

• Open a separate business bank account.
• Put your accounting dates and filing deadlines in the calendar now, while you remember them.
• Keep receipts in one place from day one.

The part nobody mentions

Registering makes a business official. It doesn’t make it a business that suits your life. That’s the bit worth designing on purpose: how many hours, which clients, what it needs to pay you.

Carlene Nisbett-McBlack, Founder of Femmeprenista, holds an MBA and researches female entrepreneurship. In a two-hour Freedom By Design Strategy Session (£397), you leave with a 90-day Freedom Blueprint for the business you’ve just made official.

So, which are you registering: the business you have, or the one you want?

This is general information, not legal or tax advice.