What it costs to runa UK company.
A UK company files a confirmation statement and accounts with Companies House, a corporation tax return with HMRC, and a payroll report every payday. Teamed keeps all the calendars and files on them.
Four calendars
Running a company is four separate clocks
People expect one annual return and one bill. A UK company has four obligations running at different speeds, to two different bodies, and each one fails in its own way.
Companies House wants a confirmation statement every year, which is a declaration that the register is still correct, and separately your annual accounts. HMRC wants a corporation tax return, and a payroll submission every single time you pay anybody. That last one surprises people most, because it is not annual at all. Under real time information you file on or before each payday, so monthly payroll means twelve submissions a year before you have touched the tax return.
The confirmation statement and the accounts are different filings with different deadlines, which is the most common confusion. Filing one does not satisfy the other.
| Filing | Who to | When |
|---|---|---|
| Confirmation statement | Companies House | Annually, 50 pounds online |
| Annual accounts | Companies House | Annually, a separate filing |
| Corporation tax return | HMRC | Annually |
| Payroll submission | HMRC | On or before every payday |
The rate you actually pay
Which corporation tax rate applies to you
The UK has a main rate of 25% on profits above 250,000 pounds and a small profits rate of 19% at or below 50,000, with Marginal Relief tapering between the two. That is the published position and it is where most planning stops.
The part that changes the answer is associated companies. Both thresholds are divided by the number of companies associated with yours. A UK subsidiary in a group of five is measured against 10,000 and 50,000 rather than 50,000 and 250,000, which moves it onto the main rate at a level of profit that would have looked comfortably small on its own.
The thresholds also reduce proportionately for short accounting periods. A first year is usually short, so the first bill is the one most likely to exceed what the model said.
What you actually pay
The fees are small. The work is not.
Companies House charges 50 pounds a year for the confirmation statement. That is very nearly the whole state cost of keeping a company on the register. Everything else is professional work, and it scales with how complicated the company is rather than how large.
Where Teamed runs the company, state charges stay itemised on the invoice as pass-throughs rather than folded into one line. You should be able to see every cost, every line item and every pass-through, and check them against the registry's own published fees.
Market estimate
£1,200 to £3,000 a yearWhat the market charges for accounts, the corporation tax return and company secretarial work on a small company. Not a Teamed price.
Worth saying plainly
This is the cost people forget when they compare
A hundred pounds to incorporate makes the UK look almost free. It is not. Accounts, the corporation tax return, payroll every payday and the confirmation statement are the part that repeats, and they are what decide whether owning the entity was worth it.
If the annual running cost looks heavy against the size of your team here, that is useful information rather than a problem. An employer of record carries all of it inside one monthly fee.
Teamed's employer of record in the UK is a flat £479 per employee per month, with zero FX mark-up in any currency pairing and one invoice at the end of it. Contractors, employer of record and your own entity all run on one platform, so moving between them later does not mean changing provider or re-onboarding anybody. Real HR and legal experts handle the work, not a ticket queue.
Talk to a member of the team and we will tell you plainly which one suits where you are. If you would rather look at the numbers yourself first, the crossover calculator models it for the UK.
Who carries it
Your own entity, when it's time. We set it up, migrate you in, and hand it back intact.
Global Entity and Employment Operations, which we call GEMO, is how Teamed forms your company, registers it for corporation tax and payroll, runs it month to month and keeps its filings current, across 100+ countries. You stay the employer. We do the work behind it.
In the UK that matters a little more than elsewhere, because Teamed employs through its own local entity rather than a partner. The people who would run your company are the people already running ours.
They set up our EU entity and moved hires across without missing a payroll.
Questions
Questions about running a UK company
What is the confirmation statement?
An annual declaration to Companies House that the information on the public register is still correct. It costs 50 pounds online and it is a separate filing from your accounts.
Is the confirmation statement the same as accounts?
No, and this is the most common confusion. They are different filings with different deadlines, and filing one does not satisfy the other.
How often do we file payroll?
Every payday. The UK uses real time information, so the submission goes in on or before each payment rather than at year end.
Will we pay 19% or 25%?
It depends on profit and on associated companies. The 50,000 and 250,000 pound thresholds are divided by the number of associated companies, so a group subsidiary reaches the main rate much sooner.
What if the company did not trade?
It still files. A dormant company has fewer numbers to report but the same deadlines.
Sources
- Companies House, published fee schedule and confirmation statement
- HMRC, Corporation Tax rates, thresholds and Marginal Relief
- HMRC, real time information payroll reporting
The rest of the the UK guides
Looking for a job in Entity Running Costs And Filings yourself? Teamed does not hire people directly. Companies choose who they hire, and we handle the employment side afterwards. Here is why we cannot help with your search.
