If you’re finally ready to take that leap and start your own business – congratulations!
But first, let’s get your company registered.
The Government has recently introduced “eROC”, a service where you can register your business online, instead of visiting the Department of the Registrar of Companies (DRC) to submit the forms, one by one.
Now, this doesn’t mean that you’ll never have to visit the Government office again, but it does help make the process of registering a Private Limited Company easier.
Step 01 – Name reservation
1. Check whether your company name is available
Before you register your company, you need to find a unique name for your business.
Searching for a unique company name can be done online through the website of the Department of the Registrar of Companies. This section of the website can be accessed without an account.
If you’re checking for your company name through the e-ROC website, all you need to do is type in the company name you’ve picked to see if it’s available.
If there’s no other company registered under the same name, the website will show you this:
If you see this, that means your company name is available. You can now reserve the name.
Make sure to grab a domain name identical to the name your company is going to be registered under. Lankahost is what we use to buy all our .lk domains. for domains and hosting please contact us 0764472222.
2. Register an account with eROC
Unlike checking for registered companies, to access the other parts of the process, you need an account.
The account is free to make. Click on ‘Login’ or ‘Login for online services’ to begin.
Click ‘register as a member’.
Chose country of origin.
Fill out your details and click on ‘Next’
Enter a valid email address – this can be either your private or company email. Afterwards, create a password and click on ‘Register’. After that, you’ll need to verify your email address.
Congratulations! You now have an account.
3. Name reservation process
Login to your newly created account, and click on ‘Name Reservation’.
Then, propose a name for your company.
Have you already thought of the perfect name for your company? Select the type of company and enter your desired company name.
If the company name is available and you’d like to reserve it, click on ‘Proceed Now’
If the name isn’t available, it’ll indicate that the company name needs to change. If there is an abbreviation in the company name, the ROC requires an explanation.
Step 02 – Company registration
Once your company name is approved, you should receive an email with the name approval number.
There are five steps that you have to follow in order to register your company.
Fill company details
Give shareholder details
Download and fill relevant documents
Upload completed documents
Complete payments
1. Fill company details
All that’s left for you to do is to select the type of company and provide basic company details such as;
Registered office address
Province
District
Divisional Secretariat Division
Grama Niladhari Division
Postal code
E-mail address of the company
As for the main objective of your company, select what suits your company the most from the options that are available in the menu.
2. Enter shareholder details
Under stakeholders, you’ll need to include details of directors, company secretary/secretaries and shareholders.
Enter information about each director’s first and last name, province, district, divisional secretariat division, address, passport, NIC number, phone number and email address.
By clicking the ‘Add New’ button, you can enter details of multiple directors, if your company should have any.
After adding the directors, fill in the information of your designated, registered company secretary from their name to their NIC number. This includes, adding their registration number to confirm they fit the local regulations.
If you don’t have a company secretary, Contact SimpleBooks for registered company secretary or Contact Assistia Team, We will send you the SimpleBooks Team Contact Information.
3. Download, fill and upload relevant documents
The system generates Form 1, Form 18 and Form 19. Click the download button to receive pdf versions of the form. It requires your signature, along with additional details that you have to manually enter.
Form 1 – Company Registration (Rs. 4,600 with VAT 15%)
Form 18 – Consent and Certificate of Director (Rs. 2,300 with VAT 15%)
Form 19 – Consent and Certificate of Secretary/Secretaries (Rs. 2,300 with VAT 15%)
After you’ve completed filling the forms, with the signature of your company secretary and your signature, scan these documents and save it as a pdf file. They don’t accept any other file type, to be valid. Upload each individual file carefully and to its relevant field.
4. Submit articles of association
Additionally, the Article of Association needs to be drafted by you or a company secretary.
A company may either adopt the standard set of Articles of Association in Table A of the Companies Act of Sri Lanka or draft its own Articles of Association.
5. Payment
After you fill in and upload all the necessary documents, you can now make payments.
You can pay either from a debit or credit card.
Step 03 – Give public notice of incorporation
The company registration process doesn’t end here. After everything else is done and confirmed, the final procedure is to give public notice.
This is usually done by publishing a small blurb on the local papers. This is the only process that cannot be completed online. This is compulsory, and your registration application would not be accepted if this step isn’t completed.
This should include the;
Company registration number
Registered office address
Name of the company
This should be on at least one issue of the Gazette and in at least one issue of a daily newspaper in the Sinhala, Tamil and English languages.
