If you’re planning to do business with any country in Europe, then starting a new business entity, otherwise known as a limited company, is one of the most important things you need to do. And getting the right advice on how to set it up is key.
It can seem very complicated, so it’s best to go to a specialist who has helped other people with this. However, with some effort, you can solve everything yourself. And here are the five most important steps you should take to get set up.
1. Register the Business
When you start a limited company, you need to register it with Companies House in the UK and in all other countries where it will operate. Thus, if you are going to launch a casino site and want people to Play at Zodiac casino, then you should in no case skip this step. Some other common ways of registering a limited company are:
- Limited by Guarantee (LbG): this is when you start a company and pay a guaranteed amount of money;
- Offshore company: when you do this, you usually set up a limited company in an offshore jurisdiction where you don’t have to pay tax, like in Panama. This might be appealing if you have an offshore company in a tax-friendly jurisdiction, like Bermuda or another island in the Caribbean;
- Direct subsidiary: this is where you set up a subsidiary company in another country and then make all your international deals with it.
2. Choose a Base
When you register a company, you need to specify a registered office. This is the place where the office of the company will be, which could be the UK, Germany, or wherever you’re planning to start working. You need to have a place where you can pay your bills, do accounts, have mail delivered, and get your invoices processed.
However, if you’re registered as a limited company in Europe and want to start a business there, then it’s usually much cheaper to set up a place in another country that’s as easy to get to as the UK or Germany and use the UK or German company as a holding company. This means you can use the holding company to deal with some aspects of the business but can do deals in Germany and other countries and still be legally responsible in the UK.
3. Choose the Type of Company
When you set up your company, you need to choose what type of company it will be. This has major implications. For example, if it is a limited company in the UK, then you have to have three shareholders. The amount you’re going to have to pay in tax every year and the rules you’ll have to comply with will differ if you’re a limited company in Germany, and so on.
4. Determine Which Countries You’re Going to Deal With
If you’re planning to deal with another country, you need to make sure your company is set up to serve the country where you plan to operate and what that will cost. This is an easy task, and you can usually get advice from an accountant, but if you’re using a big accounting firm or legal firm, you might want to get an account team to do it.
5. Register the Company with Companies House
You can’t do a lot of international deals unless you have the right paperwork from Companies House. When you register a company, you need to have a number of documents from the company, like a memorandum of association and articles of association. You then need to have all the papers translated so that they are legible in the other countries.
If you don’t register your company, and it’s not in any country where it’s doing deals, then you won’t be able to do any international deals, and your company will be treated as a de facto public company. This means you’ll have to disclose details about your company on Companies House’s website, and you’ll be forced to pay more for your shareholding.
