We are part of the Tide partner programme. That means clients and contacts of Blythe Phillips can open a Tide business account, or register a new limited company, on better terms than going direct — and get our help making sure it is set up properly for tax.
Open a Tide business account
£40 cashbackwhen you add funds within 30 days
- Apply from your phone — most applications are decided quickly
- UK sort code and account number, with a business card
- The Free plan costs nothing per month — and you do not need a paid plan to get the cashback
- Connects to the bookkeeping software we use, so your records stay current
- Tide pays the £40 cashback, not us — it is not a fee you are paying back
Register a new limited company
£14.99 instead of £100Tide covers the rest of the Companies House fee
- Companies House charges £100 to incorporate online — it doubled from £50 on 1 February 2026
- Through our link you pay £14.99 and Tide absorbs the difference
- Your company registration and business account are set up together
- Certificate of Incorporation and company number included, as with any incorporation
Talk to us before you incorporate, not after
Setting the company up is the easy part. Getting it right is where an accountant earns their fee — and the decisions you make in the first week are the ones that are awkward and expensive to unpick later.
- Should you be a limited company at all? For some clients a limited company saves tax. For others it adds cost and admin for no benefit. We will tell you honestly which one you are.
- Share structure and directors. Who holds what, and in what proportion, affects how profits can be drawn and how much tax you pay. Far easier to get right at the start than to change afterwards.
- Registering for the right taxes. Corporation Tax, VAT, PAYE — at the right time, and not before you need to.
- Drawing money out. The salary and dividend split that leaves you with the most after tax, reviewed each year as the thresholds change.
- Keeping the records straight. We will connect your Tide account to your bookkeeping so your figures are current rather than reconstructed each January.
If you are thinking about incorporating, get in touch first — a short conversation now usually saves money later.
You do not need to pay for the extras
Both routes will offer you paid add-ons during sign-up. For most small businesses starting out, you need neither — and one of them is considerably more expensive than it first looks.
You do not need a paid account plan. Tide’s Free plan has no monthly fee and is perfectly adequate for most new companies. It includes a set number of free transfers each month with a small charge per transfer after that, which for a business doing a handful of payments a month comes to very little. The paid plans add a monthly subscription for higher transfer allowances and extras you are unlikely to need in year one. You do not need a paid plan to qualify for the cashback.
You do not need the Company Secretary subscription. Tide offers company registration for £1 if you subscribe to its Company Secretary service — but that is £12.50 + VAT per month for the following 11 months. That works out at roughly £166 in the first year, against £14.99 if you simply pay for the registration on its own.
In other words, the £1 offer costs about £150 more than the £14.99 one. Unless you genuinely want an ongoing secretarial service, pay the £14.99. And if you do want someone handling confirmation statements and filings, ask us first — that is normally already part of our engagement, so you may be about to pay twice for it.
You can always upgrade later if your business outgrows the free plan. Starting on it costs you nothing and commits you to nothing.
Worth knowing before you apply
Tide is not itself a bank. It is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority as an electronic money firm. The Tide business bank account is provided by ClearBank, which is a bank, and eligible balances there are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £120,000.
Some Tide accounts are e-money accounts instead, provided by PrePay Technologies. Those are safeguarded rather than FSCS-protected — a different kind of protection, not a lesser-known version of the same one. You can tell which you hold from the sort code on your account.
We mention this because it matters and it is not obvious from the advertising. Check which account type you are being offered, and read Tide’s own terms, before you apply.
Tide’s formation service is designed for straightforward companies. If you are setting up with co-founders, an unusual share structure, or alongside an existing business, speak to us first — we may form the company for you instead so it is structured correctly from day one.
Our referral arrangement, in plain terms
We receive a referral fee from Tide if you open an account or register a company through the links on this page.
Three things follow from that, and we would rather say them than have you wonder:
- It costs you nothing. Tide pays us. You pay the same £14.99 that Tide charges on its own website.
- The offer is actually better through us. Tide’s own company registration page advertises the £14.99 formation but no cashback (checked October 2026). The £40 is a partner offer. Going direct would cost you the same and get you less.
- It does not oblige you to anything. You are free to go direct to Tide, or to use any other provider or formation agent. Plenty of our clients bank elsewhere and that is entirely fine.
- We are not advising that Tide is the right account for you. We are telling you the offer exists and that we can help you use it well. Whether it suits your business is a question we are happy to talk through.
Prices and offers: the £14.99 formation price and the £40 cashback are set by Tide, not by us, and are subject to Tide’s own terms and conditions, which can change or be withdrawn. The £100 figure is the Companies House fee for online incorporation. All figures correct at 09/10/2026 — please check the current terms on Tide’s own site before applying.