For UK founders · Independent guides · Always free
UK Startup is a calm, plain-English guide for people opening their first business in the UK. From choosing a legal structure to your first VAT return — we walk you through every decision, with links to official sources.
Not sure where to begin? Build your founder path
First 90 days
Validate the idea
Customer interviews, market research, pricing
Pick a legal structure
Sole trader, partnership, or Ltd
Register with HMRC / Companies House
Self Assessment or company formation
Open a business bank account
Separate finances from day one
Set up bookkeeping
Software, receipts, invoicing
Launch & find first customers
Marketing, website, network
The essentials
Sole trader, limited company or partnership — choose the right setup and register correctly.
Read guideSelf Assessment, Corporation Tax, VAT, PAYE — what to register for and when.
Read guideStart Up Loans, grants, angel investment and how to open a business bank account.
Read guideBuild a brand, find your first customers and grow without a big budget.
Read guideMentors, free tools, government schemes and trade bodies worth knowing.
Read guideA step-by-step checklist for your first 90 days of trading in the UK.
Read guidePartner offers
Reviewed Tide and Capital on Tap partner offers. Check the separate qualification steps, eligibility, borrowing terms and provider conditions before applying.
Business banking
Reader offerTide Business Account
£200 Cash FREE
Earn up to £200 only when you complete both milestones: £75 for eligible Tide card transactions and £125 for the separate Tide Instant Saver milestone.
REFER200New eligible Tide members only. The reward is conditional on both milestones; provider terms, eligibility and payment timing apply.
Business credit card
Reader offerCapital on Tap Business Credit Card
7,500 bonus points
7,500 bonus points after a completed qualifying card or cash transaction within 30 days of signing, subject to Capital on Tap’s current partner terms.
SETTINGUP18+, UK-resident qualifying company applicants. Credit subject to status and affordability.
18+ and UK requirements apply. Tide: Earn up to £200 only when you complete both milestones: £75 for eligible Tide card transactions and £125 for the separate Tide Instant Saver milestone. New eligible Tide members only. The reward is conditional on both milestones; provider terms, eligibility and payment timing apply. Capital on Tap: 7,500 bonus points after a completed qualifying card or cash transaction within 30 days of signing, subject to Capital on Tap’s current partner terms. 18+, UK-resident qualifying company applicants. Credit subject to status and affordability. We may receive a commission if you sign up; it does not change the provider’s offer or pricing.
The toolkit
Live calculators, copy-paste templates, deep how-tos, independent comparisons and 30+ glossary definitions — everything a UK founder actually has to do, in one place.
Take-home pay, dividend tax, VAT, employer NI and Self Assessment — all using current 2026/27 HMRC assumptions.
OpenStep-by-step guides to registering as a sole trader, setting up a Ltd, VAT, Self Assessment and PAYE.
OpenCopy-paste UK invoice, mutual NDA, IR35-aware contractor agreement and 12-month cashflow forecast.
OpenBusiness bank accounts, credit cards, accounting software, website builders and card readers — with clear methodology and partner labels where relevant.
OpenSpecific guides for cleaning, dog walking, freelance, e-commerce, consultancy and cafés.
OpenPublic liability, professional indemnity, employer's liability and contents — what you legally need vs what's just marketing.
OpenFrom UTR to IR35 to PSC — 30+ definitions in plain English, with letter jump-nav.
OpenConsidered takes on UK SMB policy, tax changes and funding markets — for founders, not journalists.
Open800k+
new UK businesses started each year
60%
of UK private sector employment is SMEs
£25k
max Start Up Loan from the British Business Bank
Who UK Startup is for
Most start-up guidance is written either for venture-backed tech founders in London or for tax professionals fluent in HMRC's vocabulary. Neither describes the reality of most UK businesses — a one-person consultancy in Manchester, a small Bristol bakery, a Glasgow plumber going limited.
UK Startup is written for you. We translate the official guidance into ordinary English, point out the decisions other guides skip past, and link straight to the GOV.UK page for the thing we just explained. No jargon, no upsells, and clear labels wherever a partner link helps fund the site — just a careful guide through a complicated system.
Aspiring founders
You have an idea and want to know what registering, taxing and trading actually involves before you commit.
Recently registered
You've set up the company but you're nervous about your first VAT return, payroll, or accounts.
Side-hustlers
Your side income just crossed the £1,000 trading allowance and HMRC now expects a Self Assessment.
Sole traders going Ltd
You're profitable enough that incorporating might save tax — but you want to understand the trade-offs.
Our promise
01
Every fact links to GOV.UK, HMRC, Companies House or another official UK source. No second-hand summaries.
02
If we use a piece of jargon, we define it in the same sentence. No assumed knowledge.
03
We tell you what choice we'd make and why — not just the list of options.
04
Every guide is free to read. When a partner link helps fund the site, we label it clearly, disclose how we are paid, and keep our editorial judgement independent.
Your first year
Most UK businesses don't go from idea to thriving in 30 days. Here's the honest sequence — and the decisions you'll face along the way.
Month 0
Talk to 20 potential customers before you spend a penny on branding. Confirm there's a real, paid problem to solve.
Month 1
Choose sole trader, partnership or limited. Register with HMRC or Companies House. Open a separate bank account.
Month 2
Bookkeeping software, insurance, contracts, domain name, basic website. The infrastructure that lets you trade.
Month 3
Direct outreach to your network and ideal-customer list. Aim for 5 paying customers before optimising anything else.
Months 4–6
Find one channel that reliably brings customers — referrals, SEO, local presence, a single ad campaign — and double down.
Months 7–12
First Self Assessment or accounts. Quarterly VAT returns once over £90k. Hiring, pension auto-enrolment if you employ.
UK Startup brings together the guidance from GOV.UK, HMRC, Companies House and the British Business Bank into a single, calm read — written for humans, not bureaucrats.
Open the start-up guide