Date of Incorporation: What It Is and Where to Find It

The date of incorporation is the day a company begins to exist in law.

You do not set it: the registrar writes it, and every statutory clock starts that day, bank account or not.

The short answer

Three things to hold on to:

• It is the date on the document, not the date you sent the application.
• It is not the date of your tax number, your bank account or your first sale.
• Filing dates are counted from it even if the company has never traded.

What the date of incorporation means

Before that date there is a set of forms. From that date there is a legal person, separate from its founders. The UK Companies Act 2006 puts it in one line: registration has its effects "as from the date of incorporation".

Section 16 of the Act lists those effects:

• the subscribers become a body corporate, under the name on the certificate
• that body is "capable of exercising all the functions of an incorporated company"
• the people named as directors or secretary are deemed appointed

Other company laws say the same thing in their own words.

In the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong, the date that counts is the one the registrar writes on the certificate or notice. Not the day you applied, and not the day you started trading.

Who fixes the date, and how

The order of events is the same in the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong.

1. You file the application.
2. The registrar registers the company.
3. The registrar issues a certificate or a notice, with the date on it.
4. The company exists from that date.

In the UK, section 15 of the Companies Act 2006 says what the certificate must state:

• the company's name and registered number
• the date of its incorporation
• whether it is limited or unlimited, and if limited, by shares or by guarantee
• whether it is private or public
• where its registered office sits: England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland

The same section makes the certificate "conclusive evidence" that the company is duly registered. Hong Kong's Companies Ordinance uses the same words for its own certificate.

Singapore and Delaware each differ on one point.

• Singapore issues a notice of incorporation. A "certificate of confirmation of incorporation" exists too, on request and for a fee.
• A Delaware LLC is formed when its certificate is filed, or at any later date or time the certificate specifies.
• A Delaware corporation exists "from the date of such filing" of its Certificate of Incorporation, under section 106 of the General Corporation Law.

A vocabulary point: an LLC has a date of formation. "Incorporation" is the word for corporations, and forms often use the two loosely.

Where to find the date of incorporation

For your own company, read the certificate or notice issued at registration. For someone else's, the public register is usually enough.

For a Singapore company, the exact day is on the notice of incorporation.

Companies House gives you three routes to the date, all free and without an account:

• the overview of the company record, next to its type and status
• the certificate itself, as a PDF in the filing history
• the advanced search, which filters companies by incorporation date

The step-by-step is in our guide on how to look a company up on Companies House.

	Document that carries the date	Exact date on the free search?
United Kingdom	Certificate of incorporation	Yes, on the company overview
Hong Kong	Certificate of incorporation	Yes, Company Name Search
Singapore	Notice of incorporation	The year only, read from the UEN
Delaware LLC	Certificate of Formation	Yes, incorporation or formation date

For a Singapore company, the exact day is on the notice of incorporation.

Incorporation date vs registration date

Forms use several date labels. Only some of them mean the date of incorporation.

When a form is unclear, give the date printed on the certificate. That is the one a bank or a counterparty will check against the register.

What the date starts in the UK

The UK hangs its first-year calendar on the date of incorporation. The figures below come from GOV.UK.

GOV.UK gives its own example. A company set up on 11 May:

1. gets an accounting reference date of 31 May the following year
2. prepares first accounts covering 12 months and 3 weeks
3. may need 2 tax returns to cover those accounts, because the first period runs over 12 months
4. then has 2 payment deadlines instead of one

Day 0, 11 MayDate of incorporation on the certificate. The first accounting period starts

12 monthsConfirmation statement review period ends, then 14 days to file

31 May, next yearAccounting reference date. First accounts cover 12 months and 3 weeks, so 2 tax returns

21 monthsFirst accounts due at Companies House

1. Day 0, 11 MayDate of incorporation on the certificate. The first accounting period starts
2. 12 monthsConfirmation statement review period ends, then 14 days to file
3. 31 May, next yearAccounting reference date. First accounts cover 12 months and 3 weeks, so 2 tax returns
4. 21 monthsFirst accounts due at Companies House

Each tax return is due 12 months after its period ends, and the tax itself at 9 months and 1 day.

What it starts in Hong Kong and Singapore

The two jurisdictions use the date differently. These figures come from our compliance guides for each.

Read the last row carefully.

• In Hong Kong, the annual return follows the incorporation date.
• In Singapore, it follows the financial year-end.
• The date of incorporation still matters in Singapore, for the two appointments above.

A company with no bank account still has deadlines

This is where founders abroad get caught. They incorporate, then spend weeks on banking and tax registration, and treat the company as not yet started.

The register does not see it that way. The date of incorporation is not:

• the day the tax number arrives
• the day the bank account opens
• the day of the first invoice
• the day you consider the business live

A UK company files accounts whether it is active or dormant, so the 21 months run regardless.

Four habits remove the risk:

1. Copy the date from the certificate into a calendar on day one.
2. Add 12 months plus 14 days, and 21 months.
3. Note the accounting reference date beside them.
4. Ask early whether the first period needs two tax returns.

Mapping that first irregular year is part of setting up a UK company from abroad.

Can you choose or change the date?

You can influence the date before it exists. After that, it is the registrar's record.

Other details on the record do move:

• the name can change, while the company number stays
• directors are appointed and resign
• the filing history grows every year

The date of incorporation stays as printed.

The summary