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To carry out business in Uganda minus disturbance, you must register your business fully and legally. Form 20 is one of the crucial documents one ought to have to certify legal registration.
In a bid to differentiate between a company and a business, a company is a legal entity run either as a single hand/ person or a group of individuals working together to reach/ achieve a company goal. In contrast, a business could be someone’s regular trade activity (ies). In Uganda, both businesses and companies have to be registered under the Uganda registration services bureau (URSB), a body responsible for registering all business start-ups, medium or large businesses, and enterprises.
A business that is not registered with URSB is considered illegal in Uganda and might be operating under terms that are not acceptable in the country hence putting it at risk. Therefore, it’s advisable to have your business registered before you kick start actual online or on-site operations.
Uganda Registration Services Bureau offers a number of services for example; business registration (business registration forms are availed to the business owner), civil registration (in which civil registration forms are made available to the person in charge), intellectual property (this comes along with intellectual property forms) then liquidation along with liquation forms and very many other services.
To check and clarify whether your business is fully registered with URSB, you can visit their website and fill out the search requisition form, or you can do it in writing and address the letter to the registrar general. From there, you are required to disburse the search fees, and then you will have access to the record for search at the registrar’s office, or you could be gotten back to through writing, perhaps in form of a letter-writing.
To register your business in Uganda, you need to first search whether the name you are going to use for your business is available on internet or whether there is someone else using it already, then you will have to pay dues for registration and then a certificate for your business name will be given out upon completion. During the registration process, you will be required to fill out a number of forms to verify your business, and one of these forms is company form 20; we will look at it in detail and what it holds.
Company Form 20
Company form 20 which is commonly known as a “notification of appointment of directors and secretary of a company,” is a two-page document that is a necessity that has to be filled in by any individual who wants to open up a company or a business. This is described under the company’s act that is section 192 (4).
Before submitting company form 20 to the registrar of companies within the given 14 working days of filing, you are required to fill in the following details;
o Registration number; …………
o Name of the company…………
o Presented by (name of the person presenting the form)………
Then information required to be filled before submitting or filing to the registrar of companies includes;
o Effective date for the appointment of directors…………
Then particulars of directors and these must be individuals
o First name and surname………
o Date of birth……………………….
o Address………………………………
o Nationality………………………….
o Occupation…………………………
o And other directorships………
Then next after that are the particulars of corporate directors and the details required here include;
o Corporate name …………..
o Registered or principal office…
o Postal address…………………..
Particulars of an individual secretary are the next required details and these include;
o The first and surname………………….
o Residential and postal address…….
And the second to last required details on company form 20 is the particulars of a corporate secretary that is;
o Corporate name……………………………………
o Registered office……………………………………
And lastly, the date and signatures from both the director and secretary of the company…….
You could be wondering about a time when you need company form 20; well, Monkeypesa will help you point out those areas where company form 20 might be a necessity during company or business registration.
When do you need company form 20?
Company form 20 is a notification of the appointment of directors and secretary of the company; this must be filled and filed to the registrar’s office within 14 working days;
Company form 20 is necessary when one wants to register a local company limited by shares however you will be required to reserve a name for your company or business and then file Company form s.18, memorandum and articles of association, other company forms, and A1 (statement of nominal capital) with the registrar’s office.
Company form 20 is also necessary when one wants to register a local company limited by guarantee. Still, first, you have to reserve a name for your business and then submit form s.18, Memorandum, and articles of association to the registrar of companies. When registration is done, a certificate of incorporation is issued out within 2 days of working.
Upon completion of registration, alongside company form 20 (Particulars of Directors and Secretaries), these forms (company returns) must be filed with the registrar of company within the stipulated time period;
Company Form 18 which is a notice of Situation of Registered Office & Postal Address, must be filed within 14 days.
Then there is also Company Form 10 which is the Return of allotment and must be filed within 2 months (60 days of working)
And lastly, the form of Annual Return for a company is limited by shares and must be filed once a year.
In conclusion, that is the basic information that you may need to know about company registration form 20 of Uganda registration bureau of services; however, for detailed information, you can reach out to them either physically, by phone, or by email, and their full contact information is just right below here;
URSB Contact Info
Location and address; plot 5 George Street, Georgian House, P.O.Box 6848, Kampala-Uganda.
Contact and telephone number details;
Call center number; +256417338100
Phone number; +256414233219
WhatsApp contact; +256712448448
Toll-free number; 0800100006
Fax number; +256414250712
Email; ursb@ursb.go.ug
Branches of URSB
Uganda registration services bureau has many branches across the country, and thus you could contact them depending on your nearest location at any convenient time of your choice, the branches country are about 6, let us take a look at the location of each one of them for easy guidance and directions just in case you wanted to approach them physically;
In Kampala there are 3 branches, URSB is located at;
Posta Uganda Main Office, Kampala Road Booth 2 & 3
UIA offices, Tweed plaza (1st floor) Lumumba avenue
Nakivu- Sekaziga House floor 1, Nakivubo mews
In Mbarara there is one branch, and it is located at; plot 1, Kamukuzi hill.
Gulu has one branch as well which is located at; Plot 6B princess road
Mbale has one branch which is located at; plot 3, park crescent at Ministry of Justice and constitutional Affairs.
Masaka also has a single branch and is located; plot 26, Edward Avenue, Mayor's chambers.
Arua, too, has one branch located at; plot 42/44 Packwach road.
Subsidiary Institutions:
URSB works in tandem with
Uganda Revenue Authority
Kampala capital city Authority
Plan Uganda
United Nations international Children’s Emergency Fund
United Nations Population Fund
Justice Law and Order Sector
African Regional Intellectual property organization
World Intellectual property organization