How to register a company in Scotland?
The process to register a Scottish Limited Company is the same as registering anywhere else in the UK.
There key difference is that the registered office address, which is the "legal service" address for the company MUST be located in Scotland.
The company will registered with Companies House in Edinburgh instead of Cardiff. Once registered the Company will be denoted as Scottish in the Companies House Name Database with the pre-fix of “SC” but otherwise will function in the same way as any other UK company.
A Scottish registered company gets a certificate of incorporation that looks like this:
The "SC" prefix is not shown on the certificate but appears on the Government database of UK registered companies:
Fig 2: Screenshot from Companies House:
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk
How long does it take to register a Scottish Company?
It's quick.
We complete the whole process for registering the company online which speeds things up.
There is no paperwork to sign, so usually once you have completed your details on our system we "present" these electronically to Companies House and the usual expectation is the company will be registered the same day, or next day.
You just need to fulfil the minimum requirements for setting up a limited company.
How much does it cost to register a Scottish Company?
Company formation fees are the same across the UK.
The cost is comprised of the Government filing fee which is exempt from VAT.
Filing fees change from time to time so we keep an up-to-date summary here.
All our packages include the relevant Government duty.
To view our pricing simply carry out a company name search using the tool at the top of the page.
Summary:
- Scottish Companies need to be registered at an address in Scotland;
- The registration process is the same as the rest of the UK;
- The company will be issued a Scottish Company number with an "SC" prefix;
- It takes around 1 business day to register a new Scottish Company;
- There are no paper forms to sign;
- The process is completed entirely online;
- The cost is the same as registerng a company anywhere else in the UK;
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Setting up a Scottish Limited Company.
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