Yes, you can form a UK limited company without living in the UK or visiting it (checked September 2026). Directors don’t need to be UK residents, and the Companies House online registration costs £100 (GOV.UK: Register your company).

Four things catch non-resident founders out, and most older guides get them wrong. Every director and person with significant control now has to verify their identity with Companies House. The registered office must be a real UK address where post is seen, not a PO box. Many UK business accounts have residence rules for the person applying. And a UK company run from abroad from a virtual office may have to register for VAT from its first UK sale, with no £90,000 threshold.

This guide covers each of those with the official source linked, then the filings that follow every year, the deadlines and penalties, and which bank and fintech accounts actually say they accept someone living outside the UK.

In this guide: Who can form one · What you need before you start · Identity verification · Registering, step by step · After incorporation: the yearly filings · Corporation Tax, VAT and PAYE · Penalties · Banking as a non-resident director · Where to start

Who can form a UK limited company from abroad?

Almost anyone. The rules that matter:

No residency or nationality requirement. A director must be 16 or over. Directors don’t have to live in the UK, but the company must have a UK registered office address (GOV.UK: Directors and company secretaries).
At least one director and at least one shareholder. The same person can be both, so a one-person company is normal. You don’t need a company secretary.
Disqualified directors and undischarged bankrupts need permission from a court to act as a director.
People with significant control (PSCs) must be identified at registration. A PSC is anyone who holds more than 25% of the shares or voting rights, can appoint or remove a majority of the directors, or otherwise has significant influence or control (GOV.UK: People with significant control). If you own the whole company, you’re its director, shareholder and PSC.

A private company limited by shares (“Ltd”) is the usual choice for a trading business. The company is a separate legal person, and shareholders’ liability is limited to what they invested.

One thing forming a company doesn’t change: your home country’s rules. Owning and funding a company abroad, and bringing its profits home, are governed by where you live. Check those before you form.

What you need before you start

A company name

The name must usually end in “Limited” or “Ltd”, can’t be the same as a company already on the register, and some words need permission before you can use them (GOV.UK: Choose a company name). Check it on the Companies House name availability checker first.

A registered office that is an “appropriate address”

Since 4 March 2024, a company’s registered office has to be an “appropriate address”, and PO boxes are no longer allowed (Companies House blog). GOV.UK sets out what that means (GOV.UK: registered office and email rules, checked September 2026):

It’s a physical address in the UK, in the same country the company is registered in. A company registered in Scotland needs a Scottish address; one registered in England and Wales needs an address in England or Wales.
Someone acting for the company must see post delivered there.
The sender must be able to get confirmation of delivery.
“You can no longer use a Royal Mail PO Box as your registered office address. This includes similar services from other companies.”

The address is public. If you live abroad, you’ll normally pay a UK registered office provider. Ask them in writing how they receive and forward post, because a company that doesn’t have an appropriate address can be struck off.

A registered email address

Every company must give Companies House an email address and read what arrives there. It isn’t published on the register (same GOV.UK page).

A SIC code

The SIC code describes what the company does. You pick at least one at registration. Two common ones for online founders are 47910, “Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet”, and 62012, “Business and domestic software development” (Companies House SIC list).

A share structure

You decide how many shares to issue, their value, and who holds them. GOV.UK says “the price of an individual share can be any value” and suggests a low value such as £1 to keep shareholders’ liability reasonable (GOV.UK: Shareholders). The split decides ownership percentages and who counts as a PSC, so agree it before you file if there’s more than one owner.

Articles of association

The articles are the company’s rulebook. You can adopt the standard “model articles” or write your own and upload them when you register (GOV.UK: company documents).

Director details

Each director gives their personal details, including a service (correspondence) address, which is public (GOV.UK). Since November 2025, you also need each director’s Companies House personal code, covered next.

Companies House identity verification

Identity verification became a legal requirement on 18 November 2025. It applies to directors and to people with significant control (GOV.UK: Verifying your identity for Companies House, checked September 2026). Once you’re verified you get a personal code, and that code is what the company’s filings ask for.

How someone outside the UK verifies

GOV.UK One Login, free. The online route accepts a “biometric passport from any country”. Its other documents (UK driving licence, UK residence permits) and its fallback routes, bank details or a Post Office visit, are for people in the UK (GOV.UK: Verify your identity for Companies House).
An Authorised Corporate Service Provider (ACSP). An accountant, solicitor or formation agent registered with Companies House can verify you, “from any country”. You show documents from an approved list, and the ACSP may charge a fee.

If your passport has no biometric chip, plan on the ACSP route.

When you have to do it

Who	When the personal code is needed
Directors of a new company	At registration. The personal code for each director goes into the incorporation filing.
Existing directors	With the company’s next confirmation statement. Companies House won’t accept the statement until all directors have verified.
New PSCs	When added to the register, or within 14 days of the direction letter Companies House sends shortly afterwards.
Existing PSCs who are also directors	Within 14 days starting the day after the company’s confirmation statement date. Verifying as a director doesn’t count; the code is given again as a PSC.
Existing PSCs who aren’t directors	Within the first 14 days of their birth month.

Sources: GOV.UK: When you need to verify, Companies House blog on PSC verification (16 January 2026), GOV.UK: confirmation statement guidance. A PSC who can’t make the deadline can ask for a 14-day extension, but only before the deadline passes (GOV.UK). Staying on as a PSC past the deadline without verifying may be an offence.

We’ve written a longer explainer on the UK identity verification rules for company owners.

What this isn’t: some older guides, including an earlier version of ours, described a “Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) filing” due at Companies House from March 2024. BOI is a U.S. term: reports made to FinCEN under the U.S. Corporate Transparency Act (FinCEN: BOI reporting). The UK has no annual BOI filing. Its equivalents are the PSC rules and the identity verification above, which started in November 2025, not March 2024.

Registering the company, step by step

Check the name on the Companies House availability checker.
Arrange the registered office and a registered email address before you file.
Verify every director’s identity and collect their personal codes. Do this early: if a director’s passport isn’t biometric, they’ll need an ACSP.
Decide the shares, the PSCs and the SIC code.
Register online with Companies House. It costs £100, paid by debit or credit card, and the company is “usually registered within 24 hours”. Registering by post on form IN01 costs £124 and takes 8 to 10 days (GOV.UK: Register your company). The shareholders also confirm the company is being formed for a lawful purpose.
Receive the certificate of incorporation. It confirms the company exists and shows the company number and date of formation.
Wait for the UTR. HMRC sends the company’s Unique Taxpayer Reference to the registered office. If it hasn’t arrived 15 working days after registration, you can request it online (GOV.UK). Make sure your registered office provider forwards HMRC post quickly.

The fee has gone up twice recently: on 1 May 2024 and again on 1 February 2026, when the online incorporation fee became £100 (GOV.UK announcement). Guides that quote £12 or £50 are out of date. The current list is on the Companies House fees page (updated 2 July 2026).

After incorporation: what the company files every year

These apply whether or not the company trades. A dormant company still files accounts and a confirmation statement.

Confirmation statement

At least once a year the company confirms that the information Companies House holds about it is up to date. It also confirms that its intended future activities are lawful and, if it hasn’t already, gives a registered email address. The first review period starts on the date of incorporation; you can file up to 14 days after it ends (GOV.UK: Filing your confirmation statement).

Fee: £50 online, £110 on paper (Companies House fees, checked September 2026). Not filing can lead to a financial penalty and the company being struck off.

Annual accounts

First accounts: due 21 months after the date of incorporation, or 3 months after the first accounting reference date, whichever is longer. The first accounting reference date is the last day of the month in which the first anniversary of incorporation falls.
Every year after: 9 months after the accounting reference date.

Source: Companies House: Preparing and filing accounts, updated 30 June 2026.

Example: a company incorporated on 17 September 2026 has an accounting reference date of 30 September 2027, and its first accounts are due by 17 June 2028.

That example matters for anyone forming now. From 1 April 2028, accounts can only be filed with Companies House using commercial software in iXBRL format, and small and micro companies will have to file a profit and loss account (GOV.UK, 9 June 2026). A company formed in September 2026 will file its first accounts under those rules, so budget for software or an accountant.

Small companies and micro-entities can file simpler accounts. The size limits are on GOV.UK: a micro-entity meets two of turnover £1 million or less, balance sheet £500,000 or less, and 10 employees or fewer.

PSC changes

When a PSC’s details change, or someone becomes or stops being a PSC, tell Companies House within 14 days (GOV.UK: PSC guidance).

Records

Keep the company’s accounting records, including invoices, receipts and bank statements, for 6 years from the end of the last financial year they relate to, and longer in some cases. Directors can be fined £3,000 by HMRC, or disqualified, for not keeping them (GOV.UK: Company and accounting records). The company also keeps records about itself, such as details of shareholders and shareholder votes.

Corporation Tax, VAT and PAYE

This is a summary. Our UK limited company tax guide for non-residents goes into more detail.

Where the company is taxed

Living abroad doesn’t take your company out of UK tax. HMRC’s rule is that “a company is resident in the UK for the purposes of the Taxes Acts if it is incorporated in the UK (with certain exceptions)” (HMRC International Manual INTM120030). A UK-resident company pays Corporation Tax on its worldwide profits, with relief for tax paid twice (INTM120010).

If the company is managed from another country, that country may also treat it as resident there. A tax treaty tie-breaker can then decide which country wins. That’s a question for a tax adviser in both countries, not something to assume.

Registering, paying and filing

Register for Corporation Tax within 3 months of starting to do business. Buying, selling, advertising, renting a property and employing someone all count (GOV.UK).
Rates: 25% main rate; 19% small profits rate if profits are £50,000 or less; Marginal Relief between £50,000 and £250,000 (GOV.UK: Corporation Tax rates, checked September 2026).
Pay 9 months and 1 day after the end of the accounting period. Companies with taxable profits over £1.5 million pay in instalments (GOV.UK: Pay Corporation Tax).
File the Company Tax Return (CT600) 12 months after the end of the accounting period, even if the company made a loss or owes nothing (GOV.UK: Company Tax Returns).
The first year can need two returns. A tax return can’t cover more than 12 months, while first accounts can, so a first set of accounts may be split across two returns (GOV.UK: First accounts and return).

VAT: the threshold may not apply to you

A UK business must register for VAT when taxable turnover in the last 12 months goes over £90,000. But a business based outside the UK that supplies goods or services in the UK must register whatever its turnover (GOV.UK: Register for VAT, checked September 2026).

Which one is a UK Ltd run from Lagos or Karachi? HMRC says it “would normally consider a company which is incorporated in the UK to have an establishment in the UK as long as it is also able to make or receive business supplies at its registered business address. A registered, serviced or virtual office alone is not enough to create a business establishment” (VAT Notice 700/1).

So if your company’s only UK presence is a registered office service and it sells to UK customers, it may count as a non-established business with no £90,000 threshold. Get VAT advice before the first UK sale, not after.

PAYE if you pay yourself a salary

A company must register as an employer with HMRC before the first payday, and no more than 2 months before it starts paying people. GOV.UK says that applies “even if you’re only employing yourself, for example as the only director of a limited company” (GOV.UK: Register as an employer). How a salary paid to a director who lives abroad is taxed, in the UK and at home, is a question for an adviser before you set one up.

Penalties for missing deadlines

What’s late	Penalty (checked September 2026)
Accounts at Companies House	Up to 1 month late: £150. 1 to 3 months: £375. 3 to 6 months: £750. Over 6 months: £1,500. Doubled if accounts are late 2 years in a row (GOV.UK).
Company Tax Return at HMRC	1 day late: £200. 3 months: another £200. 6 months: HMRC estimates the tax and adds 10% of the unpaid tax. 12 months: another 10%. Late 3 times in a row: the £200 penalties become £1,000 each (GOV.UK).
Confirmation statement	A financial penalty is possible, and the company may be struck off (GOV.UK).
Accounting records not kept	£3,000 fine from HMRC, or director disqualification (GOV.UK).

Older guides quote £100 for a late Company Tax Return. HMRC’s page now shows £200, and accountants report the increase applies to returns with a filing deadline on or after 1 April 2026 (THP Chartered Accountants). HMRC’s table has no daily penalties for a late Company Tax Return.

Banking as a non-resident director: what’s actually available

Forming the company is the easy part. The account has to accept both the company and you, and the second part is where applications fail. Below is what each provider’s own pages say, checked on 17 September 2026. None of them promises to accept a particular applicant, and they change these rules without notice, so re-read the page before you apply.

Provider	What its own pages say about who can apply
HSBC UK (Small Business Banking Account)	“You’ll need to be a UK tax resident” (HSBC UK).
Barclays (Business Current Account)	“At least one person on the application must be a UK resident.” Its help page tells people with an overseas account to call Barclays to discuss their circumstances first (Barclays, Barclays help).
Revolut Business	For a company registered in the UK, the applicant’s legal home address should be in the UK, Switzerland, the EEA, the US, Australia, Singapore or India (Revolut: eligible countries). India is on the list; Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Nepal and the UAE aren’t.
Tide	Directors of limited companies need to be 18 or over, be registered with Companies House, and have “a valid home address in the UK or overseas”, but also “a valid UK mobile phone number” and a device “registered to a UK App or Google Play store” (Tide: becoming a member). Another Tide support page, which we couldn’t load in full, appears to say non-UK residents need a UK residential address. Ask Tide which applies before you rely on the overseas-address line.
Wise Business	Wise says it will tell you at sign-up whether it supports businesses in your country (Wise: Can my business use Wise?). We found no Wise page stating where a UK company’s directors must live. Wise’s list of where you need to live to hold money includes the UK, India and the Philippines, but not Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Nepal or the UAE (Wise Help).
Airwallex	The UK is on its list of countries where a business can be registered (Airwallex: eligible countries). Its pages don’t say where directors must live, but it asks for photo ID and the residential address of every director (Airwallex: UK documents).

Mercury, which some UK guides list, is for companies “formed and registered in the United States”, so it isn’t an option for a UK Ltd (Mercury: eligibility).

What banks and fintechs ask for

From Airwallex’s and Wise’s published lists for UK companies:

Certificate of incorporation, and the memorandum and articles of association.
Photo ID and residential address for every director, and for everyone owning 25% or more (Airwallex); personal ID for the account administrator and possibly other directors or owners (Wise).
A document showing who owns and controls the company, such as the shareholder register (Wise).
Proof of the trading address, such as a recent utility bill or bank statement in the business’s name (Wise).
A liveness check of the person applying (Airwallex).
Details of what the business does, its website or online presence, and expected activity.

Have a clear one-paragraph description of what you sell, who your customers are and where the money comes from. Expect questions about it when every director lives abroad.

Before you pay for a company, check

Which provider will the company use, and does its published eligibility cover where you live, not just where the company is registered?
Does it need a UK phone number, a UK app-store account or a UK trading address you don’t have?
Does the platform you need (Stripe, Amazon, PayPal) accept that account for payouts?
What’s your second choice if the first application is declined?

Where to start

A UK Ltd tends to suit founders who sell to UK customers and have confirmed a bank or payment account that accepts where they live. It suits less well if your only UK presence would be a virtual office and you sell to UK consumers (check the VAT position first), or if none of the accounts above covers your country of residence.

Budget for more than the £100 registration fee: a registered office service, identity verification through an ACSP if your passport isn’t biometric, a £50 confirmation statement each year, accounts filed in software from April 2028, and tax advice in the UK and at home.

If you’re deciding between a UK Ltd and a U.S. LLC, Bizstartz works with founders forming both from abroad. A free 30-minute consultation is a good place to test which one fits what you sell and where you live before you spend anything. Banks, Companies House and HMRC make their own decisions; nobody can promise you an account or an approval.

This guide was researched with the help of AI tools and merges three earlier Bizstartz articles on forming, running and banking a UK limited company. Each fee, deadline, penalty and eligibility rule links to the page it came from; those pages were checked on 17 September 2026. Where a provider’s pages didn’t answer a question, the text says so. These rules change, so check the linked sources again before you act.

Related Guides

Deciding between a UK LTD and a US LLC? Tell us what you sell and where your customers are and we will tell you which structure actually fits.

🎯 Ready to start? Claim your free consultation and we'll map out your US LLC formation strategy — EIN, banking, and the right state for your country.

Book your free consultation →

Ready to start your company?

Bizstartz handles formation, EIN, banking and compliance for founders worldwide.

Book a free consultation

UK Limited Company for Non-Residents: How to Form, Run and Bank a UK Ltd (2026)