In other articles we’ve looked in depth at the procedure for transferring shares, including how to complete a stock transfer form and what a company needs to do to process share transfers effectively.
Once the stock transfer form has been lodged with the company, it’s easy to think that all the transfer formalities are complete. However, keeping an accurate and up to date record of share transfers that have taken place and who the current shareholders in the company are is also important. In particular, once a share transfer has been accepted by the company you’ll need to:
- Update the company’s statutory registers – which you’re required by law to keep up to date
- Include the details of the share transfer in the company’s next confirmation statement (which replaced the annual return from 30 June 2016) to Companies House
At Inform Direct, we’ve put together a simple online records management tool that enables you to record the share transfer and do both of these with a minimum of time and effort – it’s really easy to use, intuitively designed around what you want to achieve and you can access the software from anywhere, any time. And until you have to submit your company’s confirmation statement to Companies House, it’s completely FREE to use.
Making each share transfer easy
When you register with Inform Direct we’ll electronically retrieve the details of shareholders and their holdings available from Companies House and show them in one place. You can see full details of any shareholder and then update them if needed by clicking on the blue arrow next to them.
To start the new share transfer process you just click on the pencil next to the shareholding that’s being sold. You’ll be given the option later of whether you want to transfer all or just some of the shares, so for now all you need to select is “Transfer shares” from the list of options that appears.
Our share transfer wizard, like all processes in Inform Direct, is split up into easy bite-sized steps. Based on what you enter, the system identifies the correct questions to ask – so you won’t waste time filling in unnecessary information or working out which details you need to complete. Help is available at each step of the share transfer process if you’re unsure what something means or what you need to include.
We also make sure you provide all the share transfer information that’s required later by Companies House when you file your confirmation statement – so by completing the wizard you’ll be confident you have everything you’ll need at the end of the year. No more last minute searching through old stock transfer forms or paper registers for that vital share price you need to include!
Full and flexible functionality
Inform Direct offers full support for a wide variety of types of share and shareholder, including:
- Create and use multiple share classes – at no extra charge
- Multiple share issues at different prices in any share class
- Individual and corporate shareholders, who can also be directors or a secretary of the company
- Joint shareholders – with up to 10 shareholders for any joint shareholding
- Attach designations to particular share holdings if you need to
- Process an unlimited number of share transfers or allotments without any additional charge
- A full history of share transactions you’ve processed in Inform Direct is always available
We make it easy to transfer shares to new shareholders or to people already involved with the company – like transferring shares to an existing director, for example. Inform Direct won’t ask you for a shareholder’s details again where it already holds them, making it quicker and simpler for you to manage your records.
Maintaining shareholder records can be daunting when one shareholder has multiple shareholdings, holds shares in more than one share class or is an officer of the company as well as a shareholder. Inform Direct makes things easy by linking together all the shareholdings and appointments a person has. Even if they have several shareholdings in lots of share classes and are also a director of the company, you’ll still only need to make a change in one place. That means you don’t need to remember to change a shareholder’s address or contact details in several different places, one for each shareholding or class of shares – just do it once.
Create share certificates
When you process share transfers, you also have the option to produce a share certificate at the same time. As you’ll have entered any required details for the transfer itself, you won’t need to enter them again. Just provide a number for the new share certificate and it’s ready to print and sign. Alternatively, you can just record the transfer and create share certificates later on. It’s up to you.
Our share certificate template is free to use and you can upload your company logo to produce branded share certificates if you’d like to. You can make share certificates for transfers or allotments you’ve done before starting to use Inform Direct so can catch up with any certificates you need to create.
Inform Direct maintains a log of active share certificates and lets you view, print and cancel a share certificate at any time. You’ll never need to manually fill in a paper share certificate or search for a template again.
Take a look at more details of how to make share certificates in Inform Direct.
No more paper registers or confirmation statement pain
Take back all the time you’ve lost painstakingly updating paper-based statutory registers following share transfers. Rather than you needing to do it separately, Inform Direct will:
- Automatically update your register of members / register of shareholders
- Automatically update your register of transfers
Your statutory registers can be viewed online, printed and shared at any time so you can get on with other things, comfortable in the knowledge that all of your company records are up to date.
All the details you enter, if shares are transferred or when changing shareholder details, will also be automatically populated into your next confirmation statement – so you’ll no longer need to enter it all again. Where you may previously have submitted Companies House form CS01 (or the old AR01) on paper, Inform Direct will populate the electronic equivalent using the information on share transfers and other changes you’ve entered during the year and submit the confirmation statement form to Companies House. After you’ve had the chance to check the details recorded and make any further updates required, submission is instantaneous and Companies House will usually accept the appointment quickly. It’s so much faster, more straightforward and reliable than posting paper forms to Companies House.
How to get started
Getting started is really easy – just sign up for free and follow the on screen process to complete your company setup. Say goodbye to disorganised paper records or the complex database that nobody understands and discover the easy way to record share transfers and manage your statutory records.