Unless you enter into a personal guarantee with a lender such as a bank, your personal liability is restricted to the share capital and reserves of the company.

Unless you enter into a personal guarantee with a lender such as a bank, your personal liability is restricted to the share capital and reserves of the company. In return for this limited liability you are obliged to file the company’s accounts at Companies House within 9 months of its year-end, where they will be available for inspection by the public. Technically, if the company’s first accounts after incorporation cover a period of more than 12 months − which does not usually apply to our clients because of the way we organise the accounting reference date, they must be delivered to Companies House within 21 months of the date of incorporation.

There is a sliding scale of penalties for late delivery of accounts as follows:

• Not more than 1 month late – £150
• Between 1 and 3 months late – £375
• Between 3 and 6 months late – £750
• More than 6 months late – £1,500