Company Formation · North West
Company formation in Top of Heap
Company formation for founders in Top of Heap: we incorporate your limited company at Companies House, usually within one working day, with the share structure and registered office done right and HMRC registrations handled. Our fee is £49 plus the £100 Companies House fee, fixed and published, the same in Top of Heap as across England.
from £49 · fixed, one-off
Next deadlines
- Companies House identity verification for directors and PSCs, phased in from 18 November 2025
- Confirmation statement due within 14 days of your review date, at least once every 12 months
- Companies House accounts due 9 months after your year end (a 31 December year end files by 30 September)
- Corporation Tax payment, 9 months and 1 day after your year end (a 31 December year end pays by 1 October)
Who this is for
Company Formation for Top of Heap
Anyone in Top of Heap starting a business as a limited company: contractors and consultants leaving employment, sole traders incorporating as profits grow, two or more founders who need the shareholding agreed properly, property investors setting up a company to hold rentals, and overseas founders who need a UK company with a UK registered office.
What is included
Everything inside the fixed fee
- Company name check against the register and the sensitive-words rules before filing
- Incorporation at Companies House with articles, share structure and PSC register completed correctly
- Directors' identity verification guidance under the rules in force since November 2025
- Certificate of incorporation, memorandum, articles and share certificates delivered electronically
- Corporation Tax registration with HMRC and your Unique Taxpayer Reference, plus PAYE where included
- A first-year calendar: confirmation statement, accounts and tax deadlines diarised with reminders
How it works
Company Formation from Top of Heap, step by step
Tell us your situation
A short message or call about what you do and what needs filing. We ask the questions that determine the right package and nothing more.
Fixed fee in writing
You receive one price for the work, confirmed by email before anything starts. It does not change if the job takes longer than we expected.
Send records, review the draft
Records come by WhatsApp or email. We prepare the draft, explain the figures in plain English and answer your questions.
We file, you get the receipts
Once you approve and the fee is settled, we submit electronically and forward the HMRC or Companies House acknowledgement the same day.
Why IGI
The IGI way of working, in Top of Heap
One fixed fee for company formation in Top of Heap, agreed in writing before any work starts and never changed part-way through the job, however long it takes us.
Nothing for Top of Heap is left to the last week. Each deadline relevant to company formation is tracked from the day you join, with the next four shown on every page we send you.
We serve Top of Heap remotely by design: records by WhatsApp or email, drafts back for approval, filing electronic. The saving on premises is passed to you in the fee for company formation.
A named person handles your company formation from Top of Heap and knows the file, so you are not re-explaining your business to a different helpdesk each time.
The output for Top of Heap clients is never just a form. It is the form, a one-page summary of what it says, and a note of the decisions it points to for company formation.
Approval before filing is a rule, not a courtesy. For company formation in Top of Heap, every submission to HMRC or Companies House follows your written go-ahead.
Local facts
About Top of Heap
Top of Heap is in North West, England. Income tax in England follows the UK rates: 20% basic to £50,270, 40% higher to £125,140 and 45% additional, with the personal allowance of £12,570 tapered away above £100,000. National Insurance, VAT and Corporation Tax are UK-wide, and Stamp Duty Land Tax applies to property purchases.
| Place | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Heady Hill | 0.2 mi | NW |
| Darn Hill | 0.3 mi | S |
| Pretty Wood | 0.5 mi | W |
| Prettywood | 0.5 mi | W |
| Bottom o' th' Brow | 0.7 mi | NE |
| Broadfield, Rochdale | 0.7 mi | E |
| Bottom o' the Brow | 0.7 mi | NE |
| Jericho, Bury | 0.8 mi | NW |
Worth knowing
Rules that come up in this work
Switching accountants
Changing accountant is simpler than most people fear. You authorise the new firm, which writes to the old one for professional clearance and your records; the outgoing accountant must hand over your own documents and usually does within two weeks. The new firm registers as your agent with HMRC and picks up the next filing. There is no need to wait for a year end.
Closing a company
Striking off a company is cheap but must be done in order: stop trading, file the final accounts and CT600, pay the tax, close VAT and PAYE, distribute the remaining assets, close the bank account, then apply. Anything left in the company at dissolution passes to the Crown. Distributions up to £25,000 are taxed as capital gains; above that a formal liquidation is usually needed to keep capital treatment.
Record keeping
Good records are the difference between a quick enquiry and a long one. For the self-employed, five years after the filing deadline; for companies, six years from the year end; for VAT, six years. Photographs of receipts, PDF statements and software exports all count. The requirement is to keep records, not paper, and a well-organised cloud folder satisfies it.
Allowable expenses
An expense is allowable against trading profit if it is incurred wholly and exclusively for the business. Materials, business travel other than ordinary commuting, a proportion of home running costs, software, insurance, professional fees, bank charges and protective clothing qualify. Client entertainment, ordinary clothing, fines and the private share of mixed-use costs do not.
Crypto records and reporting
HMRC treats cryptoassets as property. Swapping one token for another, spending crypto or gifting it are all disposals for Capital Gains Tax, and staking and lending rewards are income. Gains are computed under pooling rules with same-day and 30-day matching. From 2026 HMRC receives data from exchanges worldwide under the Cryptoasset Reporting Framework, so unreported activity is increasingly visible.
The 60-day property CGT return
The 60-day Capital Gains Tax return on residential property is the deadline landlords most often miss, because it falls outside the Self Assessment cycle and runs from completion, not exchange. Private residence relief for periods you lived in the property, plus the final nine months, reduces the gain. Penalties for a late return mirror Self Assessment, starting at £100.
Dormant companies
A dormant company is one with no significant accounting transactions in the year, where the only permitted entries are the payment for shares on incorporation, Companies House fees and penalties. It still files a confirmation statement and simplified dormant accounts every year. A bank charge or an accountant's fee paid from the company ends dormancy and requires full accounts.
Questions
Company Formation questions from Top of Heap
What happens after the company is formed?
You receive the certificate of incorporation, memorandum and articles, share certificates and the company's authentication code. Then the deadlines start: first confirmation statement within 12 months and 14 days, first accounts within 21 months, Corporation Tax payment nine months after the first year end. We diarise all of them and remind you.
Can I form a company if I live outside the UK?
Yes. A UK company can have non-resident directors and shareholders, but it must have a UK registered office and directors must complete identity verification. Our non-resident formation service at £149 includes the registered office; HMRC registrations and a bank account introduction are handled in the £219 and £349 packages.
What does it cost in total?
Our formation-only fee is £49, plus the Companies House incorporation fee of £100 which we pass on at cost and show separately. So a basic formation is £149 all in. The £99 package adds Corporation Tax and PAYE registration, £149 adds a year's registered office, and the £199 startup pack includes registrations and bookkeeping setup.
How long does incorporation take?
Companies House usually approves online incorporations within 24 hours, often the same working day. We need your chosen name, the registered office address, details of each director and shareholder with their identity verification, the share structure and your SIC code. Most clients give us everything in one conversation.
Do directors need to verify their identity?
Yes. Since 18 November 2025 every new director and person with significant control must verify their identity with Companies House before or at incorporation, through GOV.UK One Login or an authorised agent. We tell you exactly how to do it and check that the verification is linked before we file.
Can I use my home address?
You can, but it becomes public on the Companies House register as the registered office and as your service address. Most founders prefer not to. Our registered office service at £69 a year provides a London address for official post, and the £149 formation package includes the first year.
Which deadlines matter most for company formation?
The next four dates that apply to company formation are shown at the top of this page, calculated from today. For Top of Heap clients we diarise every one of them from the day you join and send reminders before each, so the work is done in good time rather than in the last week before a penalty.
How do I get started from Top of Heap?
Message us on WhatsApp or email with a sentence about your business and what you need. We reply in working hours with any questions and a fixed fee for company formation. Once you confirm, we tell you exactly which records to send and the work begins. Most Top of Heap clients are set up within a day.
Ready to fix your fee in Top of Heap?
Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.