Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015

Streamlined company registration

15 Target for streamlined company registration

(1) The Secretary of State must secure that, by no later than 31 May 2017, a system for streamlined company registration is in place.

(2) For the purposes of this section and section 16, a system for streamlined company registration is a system which enables all of the registration information to be delivered by or on behalf of a person who wishes to form a company after 31 May 2017—

(a) on a single occasion to a single recipient, and

(b) by electronic means.

(3) “Registration information” means—

(a) the documents which must be delivered to the registrar under section 9 of the Companies Act 2006 (registration documents) in respect of the formation of a company;

(b) the documents or other information which must or may be delivered to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs in respect of registration of a company for purposes connected with VAT, corporation tax and PAYE.

(4) In this section—

• “company”, “electronic means” and “the registrar” have the same meanings as in the Companies Acts (see sections 1(1), 1168(4) and 1060 of the Companies Act 2006 respectively);

• “VAT” means value added tax charged in accordance with the Value Added Tax Act 1994.

16 Streamlined company registration: duty to report on progress

(1) The Secretary of State must prepare a report before the end of each reporting period about the progress that has been made during that period towards putting in place a system for streamlined company registration.

(2) The following are reporting periods—

(a) the period beginning with the day on which this section comes into force and ending on 31 March 2016;

(b) the subsequent period of 12 months ending on 31 March 2017.

(3) The first report must set out the steps which the Secretary of State expects will be taken during the next reporting period towards putting the system in place.

(4) Both reports must include the Secretary of State’s assessment as to when the system for streamlined company registration will be in place.

(5) The second report must include an assessment of what steps, if any, the Secretary of State expects to take to put in place a system for the streamlining of other information delivery processes relating to businesses.

(6) The Secretary of State must—

(a) publish each report, and

(b) lay each report before Parliament.