When you form a company you are required to indicate the type of business it will be.
You do this by selecting one or more of the Standard Industrial Classification (or SIC) codes.
At Step 1 of the formation wizard after having entered the registered office, you are required to give the new company's planned business activity.
If you instead need to change the SIC code for an existing company then please see How do I change or add a SIC code?
1. Start writing a word that best describes the business. Possible options will then start being displayed.
Note: If your company is dormant start typing "dormant," and that option will be presented.
2. Click on the description(s) that best fits the company. You need to click on the suggestion and let Inform Direct populate the field for you. Do not just type the 5 digit number.
If you are truly stumped, then we have a list of the SIC codes that can be used available here.
If necessary, you can add further codes. To do this, click on the 'Add further business activity' link and repeat.
Note: Only UK SIC codes (as published by Companies House) are accepted. If in doubt, you can check the validity of a SIC code using the official Companies House lookup: https://resources.companieshouse.gov.uk/sic/
3. Having added the desired codes, click on 'Continue'.
Note: Some companies agonise over which SIC codes to select and fear the consequences of “getting it wrong”, although at Inform Direct we’ve never heard of Companies House taking action against companies that have selected their SIC codes in good faith. In many cases, there just won’t be one that’s absolutely spot on – so experiment for free with keywords to find the code that best describe the activities of your company.