Introduction
As your business evolves, details registered with Companies House might need updating. This piece of content provides a step-by-step guide on how to make company registration changes, ensuring an accurate representation of a business’s current status and legal compliance.
Overview
You need to start by telling Companies House what you want to change. The most common details that companies change include:
- Name
- Address
- Type
- Directors and company secretaries
- Share
- Mortgages and loan guarantees
- Constitution and articles of association
You’ll need your business agreement before making any changes. Also, you’ll need to tell HM Revenue and Customs about your business changes.
How to Tell Companies House about Your Changes
Companies House provides you with two main options, which include the following:
- Use the Companies House online service available for the change you want to make on its official website.
- Alternatively, you can download and complete the paper forms available from the official website.
Get an Agreement from Your Company
You’ll usually need to get entitled shareholders or directors to vote on whether to make some changes. This process is usually known as passing a resolution. Several things usually need a resolution, including:
- Changing your business’s share structure
- Changing your business’s articles of association and constitution – how it’s operated
- Removing a director
- Changing your company name
Many resolutions require more stockholders to agree rather than disagree. Also known as ordinary resolution, it can be done by a show of hands at a gathering.
Some changes, such as articles of association, might need between 75% and 95% majority, also known as extraordinary resolution or special resolution. You need to file extraordinary or special resolutions with Companies House within fifteen days of passing them.
When to Tell Companies House
You need to tell Companies House within fourteen days if you want to make changes to the following:
- Company secretaries
- Where do you store your business records
- Business directors or their personal details change, for instance, their addresses
If you want to change articles of association or constitution, you need to tell Companies House within fifteen days. And if you want to issue more stocks in your business, you need to tell Companies House within a month.
If you want to make any other changes apart from these ones, then you must tell Companies House within twenty-one days.
Before You Start; You Need
You may need to change your company’s details, buy don’t know where to start. If this is the case, you need an online account. You’ll need to provide your email address and password.
Companies House will provide an authentication code through your registered office address. To initiate the changes you need, you must provide:
- Email and password you used to open your account with Companies House online portal
- Authentication code Companies House set to you
When Your Changes Take Effect
Your details will not change officially until Companies House registers them. If it’s a name, it’ll change once you register it. You’ll receive a certificate with your new business name as well as the date of the registration.
What Are Other Ways to Change Your Details?
Other ways include:
- Use filing software if you’ve got many changes to make
- File changes by post, as long as you find the correct form and send it to the correct address available on it.