Register for Corporation Tax and PAYE
A new limited company must tell HMRC it has started trading and register for Corporation Tax, and if you're taking on any staff — including yourself as a director on a salary — you need to register as an employer and set up PAYE to handle income tax and National Insurance through payroll.
A new limited company must tell HMRC it has started trading and register for Corporation Tax, and if you're taking on any staff — including yourself as a director on a salary — you need to register as an employer and set up PAYE to handle income tax and National Insurance through payroll.
Missing the Corporation Tax deadline can trigger a penalty, and running payroll without a PAYE reference means you can't legally pay staff through the books or report their tax and NI to HMRC — which then unravels pension auto-enrolment and right-to-work record keeping too.
Free. Do this as soon as you start trading, or sooner.
Free. Register before your first payday — allow time for HMRC to issue your PAYE reference.
Who this is for
Every trading limited company (Corporation Tax) and every venue that will pay any staff, including working directors (PAYE).
Corporation Tax registration applies to every active limited company. PAYE registration applies once you have at least one employee paid above the lower earnings limit, or any employee with another job.
What you’ll hold
- Corporation Tax UTR
- PAYE reference and Accounts Office reference
Watch out for
- Waiting until the first payslip is due to register for PAYE — the reference can take up to a couple of weeks to arrive, and you can register up to two months ahead of your first payday.
- Assuming a dormant or pre-trading company doesn't need to tell HMRC anything — you still need to notify HMRC when trading actually starts, which is the trigger for the 3-month clock.
- Paying a director "informally" before PAYE is set up, then trying to reconstruct payroll records after the fact.
Sources
- GOV.UK — Corporation Tax: overview and registration checked 2026-09-02
- GOV.UK — Register as an employer (PAYE) checked 2026-09-02
See also
This is item 17 of 66 in the free UK Launch Checklist. See the whole list →