A new one-stop service to register a company and register for tax at the same time has been used by more than 200,000 businesses since it was introduced. The introduction of the Streamlined Company Registration Service was announced as part of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 to help reduce administrative burdens and came into effect last year. However, there remain many new companies who have not used this service.

A business cannot operate as a limited company until it has been incorporated at Companies House under the Companies Act 2006. There are three ways to incorporate a company, by electronic software filing, web incorporation service and paper filing. The cheapest and most popular methods of doing so are electronic.

Under the new online service, businesses registering with Companies House, can also register for tax and HMRC’s digital services, making it easier for new start-ups to fulfil all their legal obligations in one go. This service removes the need for businesses to send duplicate information to both Companies House and HMRC when registering for Corporation Tax, and also to register an employer for Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax.

Mel Stride MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said:

'HMRC and Companies House are working hard to make business registration and tax easier. Previously, the same information would need to be entered into a number of different platforms to register a company and register for tax, we have simplified that process.'