Limited Companies

Limited Companies
In order to set up a limited company, you must firstly set up the company with Companies House and let HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) know when the company starts its business.
Every financial year the company must:
Put together statutory accounts
Send Companies Home an annual return
Send HMRC a tax return
The company must register for VAT if you expect its takings to be more than £81,000 per year.
If you’re a director of a company you must:
Fill in a Self-Assessment tax return every year
Pay tax and National Insurance through the PAYE system if the company pays you salary
Private unlimited company
Directors or shareholders are liable for all debts if things go wrong.
Private company limited by guarantee
Directors or shareholders financially back the organization up to a specific amount if things go wrong
Public limited company
Companies where shares are traded publicly on a market, like the London Stock Exchange

Advantage
A limited company has special status in the eyes of the law.
These types of company are incorporated, which means they have their own legal identity and can sue or own assets in their own right. The ownership of a limited company is divided up into equal parts called shares. Whoever owns one or more of these is called a shareholder.
Because limited companies have their own legal identity, their owners are not personally liable for the firm's debts. The shareholders have limited liability, which is the major advantage of this type of business legal structure.
Disadvantage
PLC shares are traded on the Stock Exchange
Unlike a sole trader or a partnership, the owners of a limited company are not necessarily involved in running the business, unless they have been elected to the Board of Directors.
Divorce between ownership and control
Must publish their accounts http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/business/aims/limitedcompaniesrev3.shtml Examples:
Private Limited Companies
Warburton’s The Baking Firm, New Look Retailers LTD, Thomas Cook.
Public Limited Companies
Microsoft, General Electric, IBM, AT&T.