Fewer than a third of company incorporations took advantage of the new joined HMRC and Companies House 'Streamlined Company Registration Service' last year.

According to HMRC, just 200,000 of new company formations chose to click on the link to register with HMRC following online incorporation in 2018, the first year of the new service. According to Companies House Statistics, on average around 600,000 new companies are formed each the year and so the take up is roughly one third.

The new service was introduced at the end of 2016.

Comment

It is unclear why this cost-saving take up is so low. We can speculate that there are several reasons: agents lose may feel that they lose control in the registration process if it is made directly by the new company; formation agents may be able to charge more for separate HMRC notification and registration; perhaps there is reluctance to register if there is no present intention to commence trading.

Source

HMRC: Helping hand to set up new businesses