Protecting Your Privacy When Setting Up a Limited Company

The significance of individual privacy can occasionally be overshadowed by navigating the legal, financial, and strategic requirements of launching a firm. However, protecting your privacy as a company owner has become essential in our digitally linked world, when identity fraud instances and cyber risks are at an all-time high. Business owners who want to employ a private company limited by shares might profit from several advantages. The main benefits are frequently listed as limited responsibility, tax efficiency, and prestige. However, one of the most often cited disadvantages is the amount of private information that becomes public when a business is established. In this post, you will learn the steps for protecting your privacy when setting up a limited company. Let’s begin.

Never Use A Residential Or Home Address As A Public Address:

The first step for protecting your privacy when setting up a limited company is to never use your home address as your public address. A registered office address is required when registering a limited company with Companies House. This location is the official point of contact for government agencies such as Companies House and HMRC. It can be tempting to utilise your home address for home-based firms that don’t have a commercial space. However, anyone who wants to see it can view your registered office address on the public register online. Giving up your home address puts you at risk for identity theft, unwanted visits, and unsolicited mail. In light of this, selecting a non-residential address is highly recommended. A popular way to do this is with a registered office service, which offers a business address that improves the corporate image of your firm while keeping your home address private.

Use a Separate Business Address for Your Company:

It’s important for security reasons as well as your professional image to keep your home and work addresses separate. Numerous public locations, like your website and branded stationery, display your company address, which can let junk mail, unsolicited visitors, and identity theft run uncontrolled. Using your personal address is strongly discouraged. By keeping your home address hidden from the public, a professional business address enables your organisation to take advantage of a desirable office location.

What Information is Publicly Available When Setting Up a Company:

Here is information on data that is publicly available when establishing a limited corporation before implementing privacy for protecting your privacy when setting up a limited company. Using the Companies House search, anybody may view the following information about a private company limited by shares: At this time, none of the information below can be kept out of the public record.

1. Company information included the company name, number, registered office address, company status, type, registration date, annual accounts, confirmation statement, nature of business, and previous name.
2. Directors complete information, including full name, correspondence address, date of birth, date appointed, nationality, country of residence, and occupation.
3. You may view the firm name, company number, correspondence address, notification date, legal form, place of registration (e.g., “Companies House”), incorporated location (e.g., “Scotland”), and nature of control PSC has been specified.
4. If the company appoints a company secretary, you must include the name, address, and appointed date.
5. If the company has a corporate shareholder, it must include the name, address, and class of share held. Number of shares held, Shares: Class, number, currency, nominal value, paid/unpaid.

Getting Your Information Private:

• If a residential address has already been used as a registered office address, you will also be able to privatise or restrict it from the public register under new rules.
• Date of birth of the director and PSC.
• Director’s job
• Signs

Application for Protecting Your Privacy When Setting up a Limited Company:

Those who want their information to be hidden or protected will have to fill out an application and pay a charge. There are restrictions, like the requirement to submit extra contact details (like a new name or address) when requesting protection or hiding. This procedure can be used by anyone whose personal information is listed on the UK Companies House registry; the user is in charge of figuring out where their information is listed. If you have used your home address as a service address or correspondence address, you can request that Companies House remove this from the public register. To do this, you’ll need to complete an SR01 form and pay a fee of £30 to remove your address from each document.

Conclusion:

The distinction between personal and professional life has become more hazy due to the rise of the digital media world and home-based companies. Maintaining a distinct boundary between the two is essential for the security of your company and its professional image, in addition to your privacy. Protecting your privacy when setting up a limited company is a crucial process to understand and apply. Certain information will unavoidably become public knowledge when a firm is registered. However, your privacy can be protected with services like our Registered Office Address Service and Service Address. To do this, take help from the guidance presented in this article.

Disclaimer:

All information in this blog is for general purposes; for legal advice, consult a consultant or legal advisor and confirm any changes from the government website.