If you own a company, one of the things you should be looking forward to doing, is registering your company. In this article, we will be telling you how to register your company.
There are different types of companies; there is the public limited company, the private limited company, etc.
Public Limited Company (PLC) is a limited liability company whose shares may be freely sold and traded to the public (although a PLC may also be privately held, often by another PLC), with a minimum share capital of 500,000 and usually with the letters PLC after its name.
The private Limited Company (LTD) is distinct from the public version in the sense that cannot sell its shares to the public.
The cost of running a public limited company is higher than that of a private limited liability company. It is, therefore, better suited for large organisations.
You can check our post on Types of Companies to see the other types of companies.
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How to register your company
Basically, registering your company involves four major steps. There are:
- Check for availability of proposed company name. To check if your preferred choice of name is available, (click here)
- Reserve a new Name
- Complete pre-registration form – CAC1.1 online using the CAC company registration portal. Note: You can complete steps 1-3 on the Company Registration Portal (CRP). Visit the CRP at https://services.cac.gov.ng/login.
- You can now proceed to pay for filing and Stamp duty fees. Visit https://www.cac.gov.ng/summary-of-fees/ to see all the fees you need to pay for.
- Prepare the signed scan copy of your pre-registration documents for upload. The documents include:
- Form CAC1.1
- Memorandum and Article of Association (MEMART)
- Recognized form of identification for Director(s)/Subscriber(s) and Secretary
- Evidence of payment to CAC
- Upload the scanned documents for processing.
- Submit the original copies of the documents uploaded at step 6 to the CAC office. Those documents will be exchanged for your certificate and the Certified True Copies of the documents.
Visit the CAC Official website at www.cac.gov.ng for more information.
Other Registration
After registering the company with CAC, there may be a need to register with other bodies. So, other registrations that may be required include:
Register with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS)
The Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act (FIRS) established the FIRS.
The FIRS act regulates federal tax in Nigeria. Every company must register and open a tax file at the nearest FIRS office close to the company’s registered office address.
Moreover, there are other benefits that come with registering a company with the FIRS.
Register with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC)
The National Investment Promotion Commission Act established the NIPC. The NIPC regulates foreign investments in Nigeria.
The Act requires that after registering with the CAC, every company with foreign participation must go further to register with the NIPC before commencing business.
Get a Business Permit, Expatriate Quota & Work Permit
This pertains to businesses completely owned by foreigners and does not affect those where ownerships are shared between foreigners and citizens.
In order for a foreign-owned company to start and operate a business in Nigeria, it has to obtain a business permit from the Ministry of Interiors.
Note: Any foreigner who registered a company in Nigeria cannot become a signatory to a Nigerian bank except such person has received the Nigerian work permit or employ a local citizen that can be allowed to do so.
Cost of registering a company
| S/N | SUBJECT | FEES in Naira (₦) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reservation of Name | N500.00 |
| 2 | Registration of private company with share capital of N1million or less | N10,000.00 |
| 3 | Registration of private company/Increase in Share Capital above N1million and up to N500million | N5,000.00 for every N1million share capital or part thereof |
| 4 | Registration of private company/Increase in share capital above N500million | N7,500.00 for every N1million share capital or part thereof |
| 5 | Registration of Public company/Increase in share capital | N20,000.00 for the first N1million share capital or part thereof |
| 6 | Registration of Public Company/Increase in share capital above N1million and up to N500million | N10,000.00 for every N1million share capital or part thereof |
| 7 | Registration of Public Company/increase in share capital above N500million | N15,000.00 for every N1million share capital or part thereof |
Conclusion
Anyone Registering a company should do that with care to avoid mistakes. We hope this article was helpful.
You can check our other articles on ‘Types of companies’ and How to register a business name & cost of registering a business name