Course description

Running a limited company brings a new set of rules: duties as a director, filings at Companies House, Corporation Tax, and the right ways to take money out. This course explains them in plain English, one step at a time, for new company directors and sole traders moving to a company. Every rule is shown working in a small company, with the figures worked through line by line.

There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, and each one ends with a short exercise. You follow Rochelle, a designer in Milton Keynes, through her first year as director of Oakwick Studio Ltd, with her accountant Tasneem: forming the company, verifying her identity, setting her salary, her first dividend, a holiday withdrawal that lands in her loan account, and the calendar of deadlines ahead. In the final project you review a year for a heating company in Luton. Every section has a practice pack with model answers and a one-page cheat sheet, and the tax and loan account sections include spreadsheet workbooks.

What you'll learn

• What a limited company is: a separate legal person, limited liability and where it stops, sole trader or company in general terms, the people in a company, and Companies House and HMRC.
• Setting up a company: choosing a name, the memorandum and articles, the registered office, registered email address and appropriate address rules, incorporating, and moving from sole trader.
• Directors' duties: the seven general duties in sections 171 to 177 of the Companies Act 2006, explained one by one, and what happens when things go wrong.
• Shareholders, shares and decisions: share capital, shareholders' rights, directors' decisions and resolutions, issuing and transferring shares, and people with significant control.
• Companies House registers, identity and filings: the register of members, identity verification under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, the confirmation statement, annual accounts, deadlines and penalties.
• Corporation Tax: registering, accounting periods, the 19% and 25% rates and marginal relief, what reduces taxable profit, the CT600, payment deadlines and planning for the bill.
• Paying yourself: salary through PAYE, dividends in company law, dividend tax and Self Assessment, and three worked salary and dividend examples, with no single right mix.
• The director's loan account, expenses and company money: the loan account, the section 455 charge, expenses and benefits, banking and keeping company money separate, and record keeping.
• IR35, insurance, accountants and closing a company: the off-payroll working rules in outline, insurance, other registrations, working with an accountant, and striking off or liquidation in outline.
• Your company year and final project: a company calendar, a three-part review of a heating company's year, and checklists to keep.

Who it's for

New directors of small UK private limited companies, and sole traders thinking about moving their business into a company or who have just done so. You don't need any legal or accounting background, just everyday arithmetic; the course explains every term and calculation as you meet it.

What this course is, and isn't

This course explains how limited companies work in the UK as general information, based on GOV.UK, Companies House and HMRC guidance as at 26 October 2026. It isn't legal, tax or financial advice for your situation, and it doesn't tell you whether to form a company or how much salary or dividends to take. The rules and figures change, so check the current guidance and talk to an accountant or solicitor before you act.

What will I learn?

• Explain what it means for a company to be a separate legal person, what limited liability protects and where it stops
• Set up a company: its name, articles, registered office, registered email address and the move from sole trader
• Apply the seven general duties of directors in sections 171 to 177 of the Companies Act 2006 to everyday decisions
• Explain shares, shareholders' rights, resolutions and people with significant control, and keep the right records
• Meet Companies House requirements: identity verification, the register of members, the confirmation statement and annual accounts, with their deadlines and penalties
• Work out Corporation Tax with the 19% and 25% rates and marginal relief, and know the payment and CT600 deadlines
• Follow the arithmetic of paying yourself through salary and dividends, including lawful dividends, dividend tax and Self Assessment
• Keep a director's loan account, understand the section 455 charge, claim expenses correctly and keep company money separate
• Recognise the outline of IR35, insurance, other registrations, working with an accountant and closing a company
• Build a company calendar and review a company's year from start to finish, ready to discuss with an accountant

Frequently asked questions