A dormant or pre-trading UK subsidiary
A UK company that is holding a name, a licence or a future plan still has filings every year. We keep it compliant for a fixed monthly fee and bring it to life when the group is ready.
A company held before trading starts or kept after it stops
A company can exist long before it trades: holding a name, sitting in a structure counsel designed, or kept on after the UK operation winds down. A company with no transactions still has filings, and the penalties for missing them are the same as for a trading one.
What you get
- Registered office and post handling
- Dormant accounts filed each year
- Confirmation statement filed
- HMRC dormancy notified
- Ownership register maintained
- Activated when trading starts
What we do
Registered office and post
Maintained and forwarded, so nothing from HMRC or Companies House goes unanswered.
Dormant accounts
A short standard form, filed inside the nine-month deadline every year.
The confirmation statement
Filed annually, Companies House fee passed through at cost.
HMRC told
So no corporation tax return is demanded, and any letter that does arrive is answered.
The registers kept current
Ownership and directors updated as the group changes around it.
Activation when you are ready
Corporation tax registration within three months of trading, VAT and PAYE as needed, bookkeeping from the first transaction. A phone call, not a project.
Groups form UK companies ahead of need: to secure a name, to hold a contract that will start next year, to sit in a structure the group's lawyers have designed, or because a UK business has wound down and the company is being kept. A company with no transactions still has a registered office to maintain, a confirmation statement to file, accounts to file and an ownership register to keep accurate, and the penalties for missing them are the same as for a trading company.
What dormant means
A company is dormant for Companies House purposes when it has had no significant accounting transactions in the period. Paying the Companies House filing fee, penalties, and the money for the shares issued at incorporation are ignored. Almost anything else, including paying our fee from the company's own bank account, ends the dormancy, so a dormant company has its costs paid by the parent.
What we do each year
- Provide the registered office and forward anything that arrives.
- File the dormant company accounts, which are a short standard form, within the nine-month deadline.
- File the confirmation statement, passing the £50 fee through at cost.
- Tell HMRC the company is dormant so no corporation tax return is demanded, and respond if HMRC writes.
- Keep the ownership and director registers up to date as the group changes.
When trading starts
When trading starts, the company moves onto the ordinary service: corporation tax registration within three months, VAT and PAYE as needed, and bookkeeping from the first transaction. The registered office, registers and history are already in place, so the switch is a phone call and the fee changes from the following month.
What we need from you
- The company's authentication code and any existing filings
- Confirmation that the parent will pay the company's costs while it is dormant
- Notice when the group intends to start trading through it
Common questions
Does a dormant company need to file a tax return?
Not once HMRC has been told it is dormant. HMRC will usually confirm the position and ask again after a few years. If it starts trading, it must be re-registered within three months.
Can we use it to hold a trademark or a domain?
Holding an asset that produces no transactions does not end dormancy. Receiving licence income for it would.
What if it was trading and has stopped?
It can become dormant from the start of the next accounting period, once the last transactions are cleared. If the group intends never to use it again, striking it off is usually cheaper than keeping it, and we can do that instead.
Related services
Setting up a UK subsidiary
QuotedIncorporation and the registrations that follow
Incorporation, the ownership register, identity verification for each director, then corporation tax, PAYE and VAT registrations. One fee, everything a new UK company must have.
Registering a UK branch (a UK establishment)
QuotedA UK branch of the existing company, registered at Companies House
Registration within the one-month deadline, the parent's constitution and accounts filed, the branch registered for corporation tax, VAT and PAYE, and the annual filings kept up.
HMRC registrations for a new UK company
QuotedCorporation tax, PAYE, VAT and the other HMRC registrations
Every registration the company needs, applied for in the right order and at the right time, with the references held on file rather than lost in the post.
Get a fixed quote
Tell us where the parent company is and what the UK operation has to do.
