Company Formation Solicitors - worth the money?

I would suggest that unless you are also paying or needing additional legal advice such as contracts or other matters you should use an off the shelf formation company, or do it yourself and spend that money on an accountant. From a legal view point you will be paying for a service which is not a legal minefield and paying your commercial lawyer to form fill standard forms. Free guidance is available via companies house and also on this site. However contracts for trading which often form part of this advice are not a DIY job and need tailoring to some degree to your own business needs. It pays to shop around, we are happy to quote on this for you.
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Lee Schwartz Lime One Ltd www.limeone.com 01244 852550

I just use a standard formations company for most clients - its only when you get into needing two classes of shares or any complex structures I find it beneficial to seek specialist advice. The easy bit is setting up a limited company - the hard bit is running it properly. James Smith Chartered Accountant [url]www.jamesesmith.co.uk[/url] [url]www.uktaxshop.co.uk [/url] 01284 764436
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James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk
01235 536 773

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Your indispensable guide to Small Business Bookkeeping, Self-Assessment & VAT

Have you thought about whether you should have any other shareholders apart from yourself? There's lots to be gained by this, but lots to be lost if you get it wrong. The Revenue are looking into an issue called "settlement provisions" at the moment. We offer very competitive rates for incorporation, and throw in related advice for free.
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Rod Craig
Burrow & Crowe, Chartered Accountants
0113 2591 666
Rod@burrow-crowe.co.uk
Ask me about our "free phone calls and emails" service

A student of mine went to Lloyds. They helped him set up the company - all free. He of course had to open a bank account but there were no charges whatsoever....
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chris
www.oxford-conferences.com

Hello J, Sorry to put a blatant plug here, but...
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Richard Osborne
Quick Formations Limited
A simple online company formation and company credit checking service...
Company">href="http://www.quickformations.com/">Company Formations - Company Reports
Network online and free community support for your business at the UK Business Forums

Ozzy, Your web-site certainly does look interesting. I am interested in incorporating a Ltd company, but I need to immediatly list it as dormant until I am in a position (financially and professionally) to trade under Ltd company terms. Is this possible with your web-site application? I couldn't seem to find out through the site. Also, the free 0870 numbers on your business package - what kind of monthly rental would there be on these every month thereafter? Cheers Clem.

Clem, to list a company as dormant, you need to file the appropriate returns with companies house every year, its not a one off process. Have a look here: http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/about/gbhtml/gba10.shtml#top Or ask your local friendly accountant to file for you. *cheesy grin to match ozzy's plug* James Smith Chartered Accountant [url]www.jamesesmith.co.uk[/url] [url]www.uktaxshop.co.uk [/url] 01284 764436
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James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk
01235 536 773

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Your indispensable guide to Small Business Bookkeeping, Self-Assessment & VAT

Hi Clem, James has given you the correct answer with regards filing as a dormant company. When you get the letter from the Inland Revenue asking what you are doing with the company, just reply saying it is dormant. Then a year after you have formed the company just file a DCA (dormant accounts) and set the activity code on the Annual Return as dormant when you file that each year too. Ofcourse, you could let our website file dormant annual returns for you automatically ... but thats a sneak peek as to what is coming soon on our website (its not live yet).
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Richard Osborne
Quick Formations Limited
A simple online company formation and company credit checking service...
Company">href="http://www.quickformations.com/">Company Formations - Company Reports
Network online and free community support for your business at the UK Business Forums

If you are after an 0870 number, please feel free to contact me. I offer free 0870 numbers to clients and you will also earn a revenue from all incoming minutes. Paul

A popular misconception which seems to exist is that when a company is set-up, there is some action that needs to be taken in order to establish it as being dormant.

All new companies when they are incorporated are dormant by default. The company will then remain dormant indefinitely until it begins to trade, in which case it automatically becomes an active.

When registering a company which you do not intend to trade with it is necessary to state this on the Form CT41G which is sent from Revenue and Customs, but this in itself does not make the company dormant.

On the basis that the company has not traded since its incorporation you are entitled to submit a DCA form although you could file full or abbreviated accounts if you wanted to.
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Simon - Company Formation Services