An Introduction to Company Formation

1. Any company that is being newly incorporated involves tremendous planning and has to go through various complicated processes and phases that are responsible for building a sound business foundation. This entire process that involves its incorporation is called Company Formation or Company Registration. The laws in the Oman and a number of other international laws view the company that is being incorporated as a separate entity, different from the person who has started it or who owns it. Many different types of companies are incorporated in the Oman each day, like public limited company, private limited company, unlimited company, limited liability partnership, limited partnership, royal charter, community interest company and many more. All these companies have to go through the process of company formation in Oman. In earlier days all the companies were formed only on paper, but these days most of the company formation process takes place electronically, via the Internet. While going through the paper process, the person who has incorporated the company has to submit various documents and a registration fee to the Registrar of Companies. The documents include a memorandum of association, articles of association, form 10 and form 12. An Introduction to Company Formation

2. The electronic process differs with the paper process in just one way; no form 12(i.e., the statutory declaration) is required. To initiate electronic company formation, the user requires software that is compatible with the Companies House e-filing service and an account with the Companies House. If these are unavailable, then the company's owner can use the services of a Company Formation Agent. • Different company formation agents adopt a different procedure to incorporate a company. The Agent needs to be recognized by the Companies House and must have passed the integration testing phase. The Companies House has a list of all Company Formation Agents. Now, a number of service providers have also come up online that offer new corporations company formation in Oman services and business support.