What Our Experts Think About ANNA Formations – Here Is Their Review

Rated #3 Best UK Company Formation Agent

Overall Rating:

9.4

Ease Of Use = 9.7

Value For Money = 9.6

Customer Support = 9.3

Services Offered = 8.9

ANNA Formations Review [Updated For 2025]- ANNA is an online bank that is quickly growing the services it offers small businesses in the UK.

They can now offer limited company formations with a choice of packages, starting from £50. Our ANNA Formations review will delve into the details to see what you can expect from this formation agent and whether it’s worth using.

At A Glance

ANNA Formations is a spin-off from the online bank, ANNA Money. It’s owned and operated by the same people and is very much an integral part of their business.

In short, their offer is that they can simplify the company formation process for you, and set up your company for free. Well, you still have to pay the £50 Companies House fee, so it’s not entirely free. But they do all the rest, so you don’t have to worry about anything.

You will be prompted to add an ANNA business bank account at the same time, though, and will automatically have a PAYG ANNA business account if you use the more advanced packages, such as Business Secretary.

But since all UK limited companies are required by law to have a dedicated business bank account, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the ANNA business bank account is a pretty good offering in itself.

Encouragingly, at the time of writing our ANNA Formations review, there were also several other packages available that included things like VAT registration, registered office address services, simple accounting software, and more.

That means that ANNA Formations is closer to a traditional company formation than many other banks that offer company registrations.

They also have an e-commerce formation package, which offers the same services but emphasises that the ANNA business account will automatically integrate with Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, eBay and Amazon for easy online setup.

The downside is that ANNA is currently only registering single-director Private Limited Companies limited by shares, which means you can only form simple limited companies with a sole shareholder – though you can add more post-formation via Companies House.

If you prefer to get your business bank account elsewhere, you might want to look at one of the other company formation agents.

How Does The ANNA Formations Application Process Work?

The ANNA Formations process is sold as being a really simple and quick process that should only take 5 minutes to complete.

While this isn’t too far from the truth, our ANNA Formations review found that the process typically takes a little longer, as you’ll be making a few decisions along the way.

While it looks like a simple 3-step process initially, each step contains multiple small steps, so it’s actually more like a 20-step process. However, this is somewhat unavoidable as forming a company is a legal process, and so most details are required by Companies House.

Here’s a fairly simple breakdown of the steps you can expect to follow.

Company Name

As with most company formation agents, you’ll start by checking the name you want for your limited company is available to be registered.

The ANNA Formations website has a direct link to Companies House, so you can check company name availability with them, or you can use our handy tool below:

Choose A Package

Once you’ve found an available company name you like, you can click the register button and proceed to choose a formation package.

There are three packages available: the ‘Basic’, ‘Business Secretary’ and ‘Total Support’ packages.

These are on a sliding scale, so each package includes everything in the previous package, plus a bit more.

Basic

This is the package where you only pay the Companies House fee of £50 for your company formation. It’s essentially the ‘no frills’ company formation package.

Company Secretary

This costs a bit more but includes everything in the ‘Basic’ package, as well as:

• The creation of an ANNA PAYG business account
• A virtual office to keep your address private and allow mail scanning to your inbox
• Basic admin tools, such as receipt capture, invoicing, and accounting software
• VAT registration
• PAYE registration
• The ability to make changes to your company, like adding directors or shareholders.
• Confirmation statement filing
• Company cancellation cover – in case you have to close your company for any reason

It’s ideal for those who want a little bit more than just the ‘no frills’ company registration.

Total Support

This includes everything from the ‘Enhanced’ package but also adds on tools to help cover all your tax requirements as a small business.

Specifically, this package includes a business plan and a +Taxes subscription. +Taxes is ANNA’s business accounting tool, which includes:

• Software to auto-calculate VAT, Corporation Tax and PAYE with ease
• Filing for Corporation Tax and Annual Accounts
• Automated expense sorting and Pots transfers help you put tax money aside
• Tools to minimise taxes and boost expense claims
• Personalised tax calendar so you never miss a deadline again
• Automated VAT Return calculations and direct filing with HMRC
• Unlimited XLS VAT filing
• Exportable Profit/Loss, balance sheet and income statements
• Payroll
• Bookkeeping Score to help keep your books tidy
• Invoicing with card payments
• Access to 24/7 support from accounting experts

You can find out more about +Taxes and ANNA’s business tools in our dedicated review here.

Which one you go for will depend on your needs, but keep in mind that, apart from the Companies House fee in the ‘Basic’ package, the charge shown is a monthly fee, not a one-off fee.

On the plus side, that also means there are no hidden extras, and you won’t find services suddenly renewing for much higher rates later, like you do with some formation agents.

Choose from available add-ons

As well as the above packages, there is also a selection of add-ons that you can add to your package to help customise the right selection for you. This includes:

Virtual office address

This gives you access to a London address to use as your office address, helping keep your personal details private. This service also comes with same-day mail scanning straight to your email. It’s priced as a £7.50 add-on per month, and is included in the Company Secretary and the Total Support packages.

+Taxes

This gives you access to ANNA’s accounting software for bookkeeping services, VAT and Corporation Tax filing, payroll, and more. This costs £24 per month, but you can trial +Taxes for £3 per month for the first 3 months. +Taxes is included in the Total Support package.

VAT registration

Let ANNA take care of the paperwork and submit your HMRC application on your behalf. This is a £19.50 one-off fee, and is included in the Company Secretary and the Total Support packages.

Confirmation statement filing

ANNA can file your annual confirmation statement with Companies House at a cost of £44.90 per filing. This is included for free as part of the Company Secretary and the Total Support packages.

PAYE Registration

ANNA will support your PAYE registration with HMRC on your behalf for a one-off fee of £12.90. This is included for free as part of the Company Secretary and the Total Support packages.

Director management service

Add or remove company directors and file the changes with Companies House for a £14.99 one-off fee. This is included for free as part of the Company Secretary and the Total Support packages.

Company cancellation cover

Need to close your business for whatever reason? A £24.99 one-off fee will cover you in case you need to close your business, with ANNA taking care of all the paperwork involved in that case. This is included for free as part of the Company Secretary and the Total Support packages.

Create An Account

Once you’ve chosen a package, you’ll need to create an account in order to continue. This is a very quick and painless process.

Step 1/3 – Choose your company name

The first step you’ll see once inside the formation process is a company name checker. Here, you’ll type in the name you want to register, and it will automatically check the availability. If it’s available, you’ll then register an account with ANNA (if you don’t already have one!), which will include confirming your phone number.

Step 2/3 – About you and your business

The second step is the meatiest. It’s basically where you provide all the information you need to register your business with Companies House.

The first of these details is the address you want to show on public records as your registered office address. If you don’t want to use your own address here, you can use ANNA Formations virtual office instead.

You’ll then have to select your country of residence, though we are not sure why you have to specify this since it has to match the country your registered office is in!

The next part is to explain in a few words what your company does. This is to try and make the next part easier….

… which is what your business SIC code is. This is a simple descriptor of the category your business fits in, which is required by Companies House.

After that, you’ll confirm when your business will start trading, and decide if you want to add on tax and accounting help if it’s not already part of your package.

You’ll also add your own personal details as the director of the company.

Basically, you just need to provide personal details like your address, nationality, phone number, and so on, as well as set some security questions and answers.

The final part of this step is to check and confirm all the details you’ve entered so far, where ANNA will then verify your identity.

ANNA Formations uses a third party for this, and the exact process will depend on where you’re located. However, it essentially involves uploading some ID and then using your webcam or phone to snap a quick photo to prove you are who you say you are.

Once you’ve done this, you can then go ahead and get yourself set up as a shareholder, assign shares and appoint a company secretary.

Step 3/3 – Complete

This is the final step where you’ll review everything, then submit to Companies House for approval.

Whoop! Well done, if you’ve reached this stage you’ll be the proud owner of your own limited company (once you’ve paid the package fee, of course!).

What Exactly Do You Get?

So, we’ve been through the process step-by-step, but now our ANNA Formations review will take a closer look at some of the specifics of what you actually receive.

Free Company Registration

Clearly, the main reason for using ANNA Formations is to get your limited company registered with Companies House.

The good news is that that is exactly what you get, and no matter which package you choose. With the ‘Basic’ package, you have to pay the £50 Companies House fee, but with the other packages it’s included. So no hidden costs, you know exactly what to expect.

Where some people may find ANNA Formations lacking is that any documentation related to your company (such as the incorporation certificate) is only available to you as a digital version via email.

This shouldn’t be too much of an issue as you can order hard copies via Companies House, but it may not suit people who prefer physical documents.

ANNA Business Bank Account

Assuming you’re following the advice of this ANNA Formations review and opting for one of the packages that includes the free business bank account (by ‘free’ we mean it has no monthly fees), you’ll want to know a little more about it.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Free business bank account (no monthly fees)
• Includes a physical business debit card and a virtual one
• You can pay cash into your account at PayPoints across the UK
• Easily manage debit cards for employees to pay for expenses
• Create ‘pots’ to better manage and put aside money in your business
• Set up Direct Debits for free
• Earn 1% cashback on a range of business purchases

When you look around at customer reviews of the ANNA Business Bank Account, you’ll see they are almost always very positive, which should give you confidence that this can last the lifetime of your business.

Added Services

We really like the fact that ANNA Formations has a number of additional services available on their more expensive packages.

The virtual office service is a must-have for anyone who doesn’t have business premises but doesn’t want their home address appearing on the public register.

VAT registration is also a ‘nice to have’ as you’ll need to become VAT registered if/when your turnover exceeds £90,000. While the process to register isn’t too involved, it’s nice to know ANNA Formations can take care of it.

Though perhaps the most valuable of all the additional services is the ability to get all the tools you need to manage your tax and PAYE requirements. Often these kind of tools will be quite an expensive extra, with a whole new platform to learn.

Plus, it’s worth keeping in mind the +Taxes add-on includes 24/7 help from the ANNA Formations team of tax advisors. This gives you peace of mind that you can always get support if you get confused about any tax matters.

You can add these services as you need them during the company registration process, which is handy if the basic package isn’t enough but the next one is too much.

Limitations

As you’ve seen, there are some great benefits of using ANNA Formations, however, we do need to point out a few limitations.

For starters, you can only form limited companies through ANNA Formations. That means you’re out of luck if you want an LLP or any other type of UK company.

Plus, you can only have a single shareholder at the time of formation. While this can always be changed later, it’s an extra hassle if you’re not the only shareholder.

You can’t use the service to create shell companies or companies for anyone else, either.

Plus, as we alluded to earlier in our ANNA Formations review, you only get digital copies of your company documents and certificates, not hard copies.

ANNA Formations Reviews From Customers:

ANNA Money has a 4.2 rating on Trustpilot, with 83% of customers giving it a 5-star rating, and praising ANNA in particular for its exceptional customer service and help. 

The reviews cover all the services by ANNA Money, including their banking service.

Most of the negative reviews are due to issues with the banking service, with a handful of reviews from those who wish that more features were included in the free-version accounting tools rather than having to pay for the upgraded service. 

Frustration-free banking at its finest…

I’m very happy with the service I’ve received from Anna Money and can’t recommend them enough. Having used their company formation + bank account services, I’m thoroughly impressed with the efficiency, hospitality and competence of the team 🤩 a glitch occurred during one of my set ups and the team went above and beyond to get it sorted within hours. Their ratio of Ai / human is spot on imo- when you need to chat with someone, you’re put straight through without swirling infinitely around bot auto-responses, for anything else (i.e. regular simple banking tasks and queries) the Ai assistant works like a dream 👌🏾 bravo Anna Money Team 😎👏🏾

5-Star review from Shenine via Trustpilot

I haven’t had my account for very long but so far the customer service (online) has been excellent. Queries are answered very quickly, issues resolved immediately. The chat facility is really good and they are very accommodating.

5-Star review from Jennie via Trustpilot

The Advantages

As we are now reaching the end of our ANNA Formations review, it’s time to quickly summarise the 3 main benefits:

£50 Company Registration

All you have to pay is the Companies House fee, the rest is done by ANNA.

Choice Of Packages

Unusually for banks that offer company formations, ANNA Formations actually has a really good range of different add-on services. These include virtual office addresses, VAT registration, and the rather excellent +Taxes option that means most people won’t need to look anywhere else.

Easy Formation Process

While we did highlight that the simple 3-step process that ANNA Formations claim to have is actually more like a 20+ step process, it’s still very straightforward and doesn’t actually take long to complete.

The Disadvantages

Of course, we also need to consider the main disadvantages of ANNA Formations too, which are…

Linked To Opening ANNA Business Bank Account

While there is an option to form your company without opening an ANNA business bank account, it quite frankly, isn’t the best option out there. That means if you’re going to use ANNA Formations, you really need to accept you’ll be taking their business bank account too.

Limited Set-up Options

We’ve mentioned a few times already in this ANNA Formations review that one of the biggest drawbacks is the fact you can only create a limited company with a single shareholder.

This might be an instant deal-breaker for some, but it’s worth keeping in mind you can add more shareholders later via Companies House.

Summary

And there we have it, our comprehensive ANNA Formations review has reached its end.

Overall, we’ve seen that ANNA Formations offer a good, solid company formation process that has been simplified as much as possible.

Sure, this has led to a few disadvantages, but the positives far outweigh the negatives.

The fact you can form your company completely for only £50 is a big attraction, but so are some of the added value extras such as the +Taxes package that helps you take care of all your tax responsibilities and get help whenever you need it.

For this reason, we have no hesitation in recommending ANNA Formations as a reliable, cost-effective company formation agent with a direct link to Companies House.

Top-Rated Company Formation Agents

Formation Agent	Cheapest Package	Add On Services	Our Rating	Review	Official Site
	£52.99	Excellent	9.4	Read Review	Visit Website
	£50	Average	9.4	Read Review	Visit Website
	£52.99	Excellent	9.3	Read Review	Visit Website

View All