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Form a limited company: who it needs, its office, its rules, the application — and everything that follows, in order.
If you live in Jersey you can form a company yourself, online, through the Jersey Registry. Here is every step, in the order the Government of Jersey sets — from deciding it should be a company to what keeps it in good standing every year.
One-off: £200 to incorporate on the standard service. Every year: £220 for the annual confirmation statement, and the data protection charge from £70. Company tax is 0% for most companies, but every company files a return.
What nobody tells you
- A company with one director cannot be incorporated without a second person: its secretary.
- If the premises are not occupied by you, the occupier signs form C14b first — the Registry checks before it incorporates.
- An application that comes back is fixed in “Action Needed” and resubmitted without paying again.
- Until the certificate is issued the company does not exist: anything you sign in its name is yours personally.
- Every Jersey company must register with the Information Commissioner from the start — it keeps a register of shareholders.
- If you do not send Social Security your tax assessment, you are billed the maximum: £1,297 a month in 2026.
- A business bank account can take up to six months to open — an e-money account in the company’s name, such as Revolut Business, can carry it while the bank decides.
- While nobody is paid anything, you included, you do not yet need a business licence.
- 5 Before you apply · 25%
- 2 Applying · 10%
- 8 Straight after · 40%
- 5 Every year, and every change · 25%
- 16 You · 80%
- 3 You, with someone · 15%
- 1 Done for you · 5%
- Apply online, on myRegistry£200
- Register with the Information Commissioner£70
- The annual confirmation statement£220
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- The Registry decidesFive business days, on the standard service
- The business licenceAbout five working days
- The data protection charge falls dueRenewed every January to February
- A bank account opensA bank: one to six months
Forming the company, compared
- Alderneythe same day
- Guernseywithin 24 hours
- The UKusually within 24 hours
- Jerseyfive business days — or two hours, for more
g- Jersey£490£200 to startthen £290 a year
- Guernsey£360£100 to startthen £260 a year
- The UK£150£100 to startthen £50 a year
What changes if…
Decide it should be a companyYou
Most start-ups in Jersey trade as a sole trader: self-employed, in your own name or a business name, and personally responsible for the business’s debts. Partners share the profit and the debts, and should have a written agreement. A limited company is a separate legal person: its finances are its own, and if something goes wrong its owners can only lose the capital they put in — in exchange for ongoing duties.
Why now: Everything after this depends on it, so it comes first.
Settle the registered officeYou, with someonewhoever occupies the premises
A Jersey company must always have a registered office in Jersey, where letters and notices can reach it — and the occupier of the premises must authorise their use for that. If the premises are not occupied by you (a rented flat, a family home), the occupier signs the Registry’s form C14b. The Registrar can refuse to incorporate a company until satisfied the occupier has agreed.
Why now: The Registry checks it before it will incorporate, so settle it before you apply.
- The occupier’s authority on form C14b, if the premises are not occupied by you
C14b · Occupier authorises premises as the registered office
Choose a director — and a secretaryYou
A private company needs at least one director, aged 18 or over. Every Jersey company must also have a secretary, and a sole director cannot also be the secretary: a one-person company needs a second person for the role. The law sets no qualification for a private company’s secretary (that duty applies to public companies only), and a company whose own sole director is your sole director cannot be your secretary either.
Why now: The application names the directors, the secretary and the owners, so choose them first.
Write the company’s rulesYou
The memorandum and articles: who owns the company and how it is run. The Registry needs a copy uploaded with the application. You can adopt the law’s standard table of articles — then only the memorandum and its subscribers’ page are uploaded — and Jersey Business publishes a template memorandum. Decide whether the company may issue shares: the application must match the memorandum.
Certify your ID and addressYou, with someonea suitable certifier
For each owner and director: a passport or Jersey driving licence, and a proof of address issued in the last three months — certified by a suitable certifier. For a company run by local residents, this is needed for every beneficial owner, controller and director.
- A passport or Jersey driving licence, for each owner and director
- A proof of address from the last three months, for each
Apply online, on myRegistryYouthe Jersey Registry (JFSC)£200 within five business days — or £295 in three, £375 in two, £520 in one, £820 in two hoursFive business days, on the standard service
Register for a myRegistry login first, then choose “Incorporate a company”, upload the documents and pay. The standard service decides within five business days; the Registry sells faster ones. If it sends the application back, you fix it in “Action Needed” and resubmit without paying again. Until the certificate of incorporation is issued the company does not exist — sign nothing in its name before then, or you are personally liable.
Why now: The company exists from the date on its certificate; every step after this waits on it.
Name the nominated personYouthe Jersey Registry (JFSC)
Every company must have at least one nominated person: its main contact with the Registry, who makes its filings. If that is not you, the person you name applies to the Registry after the company is incorporated.
Tax registration comes to youDone for youRevenue JerseyAutomatic on incorporation; a return every year, by 30 November of the following year
Revenue Jersey registers the new company and posts its tax number to the registered office. Most companies pay 0% company tax, but every company files a return, by 30 November of the following year. The standard rate is 0%; utilities, some financial services companies and large retailers pay more.
Apply for a business licenceYouthe Business HubAbout five working days
Once the company is incorporated, most businesses need a business licence to run and to employ anyone. You do not need one if nobody is paid at all, or the company has a single member working under eight hours a week (with the right residential status). Applying also registers you for a call about your Social Security, and, if you will employ staff, the employer registration is emailed once it is granted.
Why now: A limited company must be incorporated before it can apply.
Choose how you pay Social SecurityYouSocial SecurityEvery month, by direct debit
For Social Security, a company’s owners, shareholders and directors count as self-employed and pay Class 2 contributions: both the employee’s share (6%) and the employer’s (6.5%) come from your income, billed every month. There are several ways to pay, and you must apply for the one you want — otherwise you are billed at the maximum rate. For a company, Social Security contacts you once the licence is granted.
Why now: They contact you after the licence; choose before the first bill.
Register with the Information CommissionerYouthe JOIC£70 a year, under ten full-time staffRenewed every January to February
A limited company must register with the Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner — it holds personal data from the start, in its register of shareholders and directors. The charge is set by staff numbers and revenue; under ten full-time staff, it begins at £70. A new registration’s charge is due a month after you register. It expires on 31 December and is renewed between 1 January and the last day of February; changes are reported within 28 days.
Open a business bank account — earlyYou, with someonea bankA bank: one to six monthsWorth doing
Keep the business’s money apart from your own from day one. A bank can take between one and six months to open an account, and it will ask for evidence about the business and its owners — so start as soon as the company exists. A company need not wait on a bank to trade: an e-money account in its own name, such as Revolut Business, can be applied for online once the company exists and its documents are ready — the certificate of incorporation, and proof of who owns and runs it. Revolut lists Jersey and Guernsey among the places it serves, and asks that the company be registered and present in the UK or the EEA, so check its sign-up for your company. An e-money account is not a bank account: Jersey’s depositor compensation scheme covers the banks gov.je lists.
Insurance, premises and planningYou
Whether you work from home or from premises, make sure you and anyone working for you are insured, and that you have the planning and building permission for what you do there.
The annual confirmation statementYouthe Jersey Registry (JFSC)£220 a yearEvery year, January to the end of February
Between January and the end of February, every year, the company confirms its details to the Registry. For a company that runs its own affairs it is £220, including the government levy. After February a late fee is added for each month it is late.
Manpower returnsYouthe Government of JerseyBy 31 January and 31 July
Every business with a licence must make manpower returns, and they cost nothing. With no staff, submit the online form twice a year — by 31 January and 31 July, showing the business on 31 December and 30 June. Once you employ anyone, it goes on the combined employer return instead, every month.
Tell the Registry about changesYouthe Jersey Registry (JFSC)Within 21 days of a change of owners or controllers
A change to who owns or controls the company is notified within 21 days, free. Moving the registered office is a free notice — with the new occupier’s authority. A new name needs a special resolution and a new certificate, for £135. The nominated person files each of these on myRegistry.
Update associated partiesNotice of change of registered officeC23 · Registration of a special resolution
Put its name and office on your paperworkYou
The company’s name must appear, legibly, on its business letters, statements of account, invoices, order forms and notices — and the address of its registered office on its business letters and order forms.
Keep the company’s booksYou
Every company keeps a register of its members — each one’s name, address and shares — and minutes of its general meetings and directors’ meetings, recording who was there. The directors prepare the company’s accounts for periods of no more than 18 months; you choose the date of the first when you apply.
What you do not need
- A lawyer or a provider: a Jersey resident can apply on myRegistry alone.
- A paid or qualified secretary: the law sets no qualification for a private company’s secretary, and no pay.
- An office: the registered office can be a home, with its occupier’s authority.
- GST registration, until your sales reach £300,000 a year.
Our advice, in plain words
- Build what you will sell first, and incorporate when you are about to take money: the company’s yearly costs start the day it exists.
- Ask someone you trust to be your secretary. You can keep the registers and make the filings yourself.
- Adopt the standard articles unless you have a reason not to: you upload less, and they already say who signs what.
- Put Social Security in your budget from the first month: 12.5% of your income, billed two years later.
- Keep one folder for the company’s whole life: its certificate, memorandum, C14b, register of members, minutes and every filing.
Advice from experience — the steps above are the rules.
From my own setup
I set up my own company this way, on my own, in October 2026 — no team, no office. Make every name and address on the forms match your documents exactly: when something differs, the Registry sends the application back to be fixed, and that costs days.
Keep going
- Sole trader or company?What each costs you in tax, what each costs to run, and the one question that usually decides it: will you keep money in the business?Open
- Work for yourselfTrade as yourself, without a company: what you register, and what you are exempt from.Open
- Choose a registered officeThe official address every company must have: where it can be, whose permission it needs, and where it must be shown.Open
- All of it, in orderPlan my start draws every journey you need, for your place, with your costs.Plan my start
Words in this journey:Company secretaryDirectorMemberRegistered officeOccupierNominated personBeneficial ownerMemorandum and articlesStandard tableCertificate of incorporation