What documents do you need after registering a UK limited company?

You have the certificate of incorporation and a company number. Companies House then goes quiet, and nobody sends a list of what happens next.

Short version: three things are legally required, four more you need before you can invoice anyone properly, and a handful that can wait until you are actually trading. This is the order most new UK companies need them in.

The legally required ones

Register for Corporation Tax with HMRC. You have three months from the date you start doing business to do this, and "doing business" is broader than making a sale. Advertising, buying, employing and renting all count. Incorporating does not register you automatically.

Keep your statutory registers. A register of members, directors and people with significant control. These live with your company records, not at Companies House, and they are the thing people forget entirely until an accountant asks.

Put your company details in the right places. The Companies Act 2006 requires your company name on all business letters, order forms, invoices and your website. Your registered number, place of registration and registered office address must appear on business letters, order forms and your website too. A surprising number of new company websites miss this, and it is the cheapest compliance item there is.

Then, annually: a confirmation statement and annual accounts, both to Companies House.

The ones you need before you can trade properly

A business plan, if you want a business bank account, a loan, or investment. Most banks ask what the company does and how it will make money before they open an account, and having it written down turns a stilted conversation into a short one. It is also the document that forces you to answer questions you have been avoiding.

Business plan generator →

Terms and conditions. What you are selling, on what terms, when you get paid, what happens when someone cancels. Without them, a dispute is decided by whatever you can prove you agreed, which is usually a WhatsApp message. If you sell to consumers online, distance selling rules add cancellation rights you need to state.

Terms and conditions generator →

A privacy policy, if your website collects anything at all. A contact form, a mailing list signup and analytics cookies all count as processing personal data under UK GDPR, so almost every site needs one. You likely also need a cookie banner that lets people decline non-essential cookies.

Privacy policy generator →

An invoice template that is actually compliant. A limited company invoice must show your full company name as registered, your company number, and your registered office address. If you are VAT registered it also needs your VAT number, the VAT rate applied, and the net, VAT and gross amounts shown separately.

Invoice generator →

The ones worth having early

Quotes, if you sell work rather than products. A written quote that becomes the invoice later saves arguments about scope and price.

Quote generator →

Website copy, because "coming soon" costs you the enquiries you get while you are busy setting everything else up.

Website copy generator →

A budget. Not a forecast for anyone else, just an honest list of what is coming in and going out, so you know whether the company can pay you.

Budget planner →

What can wait

VAT registration, unless your taxable turnover will pass £90,000 in a rolling 12 month period, or you want to reclaim VAT on purchases. Registering early means charging 20% more to customers who cannot reclaim it, which matters if you sell to consumers or small businesses.

PAYE, until you actually employ someone or pay yourself a salary.

Employment contracts and job adverts, until you hire.

Trade marks and insurance, which depend entirely on what you do.

The order that works

1. Corporation Tax registration with HMRC
2. Business plan, then open the bank account
3. Terms and conditions
4. Invoice and quote templates
5. Privacy policy and company details on the website
6. Budget

Most of this is not difficult. It is just unfamiliar, and it all arrives at once while you are trying to win your first customer.

Honest limits

This is a checklist, not legal or tax advice. Corporation Tax deadlines, VAT thresholds and employment rules change, and your circumstances may not be typical. GOV.UK has the authoritative guidance, and an accountant is worth an hour of their time in your first month. For data protection specifically, the ICO publishes plain-English guidance and runs a small business helpline.

The fast way

Vizivo's Launch a Business journey produces these in order, from a single set of answers about your company: business plan, website copy, a 90 day marketing plan, your first invoice, a privacy policy and a launch checklist. Each document is written from the same Business Memory, so your company name, registered number and payment terms stay consistent across all of them instead of being retyped six times.