Incorporating a Single Member Company (SMC)

A Single Member Company (SMC) lets one person own and run a private limited company alone, with the same limited-liability protection as a multi-member company. This guide covers reserving a name, filing the incorporation application, and the SMC-specific nominee-director requirement.

Steps

  1. Register as a user on SECP's eZfile portal (https://leap.secp.gov.pk) with a valid email address and CNIC.
  2. Reserve your company name using App-1, checking it isn't identical or deceptively similar to an existing name — SECP confirms availability (Annexure-A) or refuses it (Annexure-B).
  3. Prepare your Memorandum and Articles of Association. For an SMC, the sole member's name and CNIC are entered as the single subscriber; eZfile auto-generates these documents once you provide your principal line of business and registered office address. You are not required to write these from scratch — see the guide to registering or relying on Table A for what has to be in your articles and what the Act fills in by default.
  4. Because an SMC has only one member, nominate a person to become the member in your place if you die or become incapacitated, and record their consent — this nominee safeguard is unique to SMCs and keeps the company running without interruption.
  5. File Form-1 (Application for Company Incorporation) under Section 16, attaching the sole subscriber/director's CNIC, the registered office address, and the authorized/paid-up share capital.
  6. Digitally sign the application and pay the incorporation fee (reference: Seventh Schedule) — the exact amount is calculated by eZfile from your paid-up capital.
  7. Once approved, SECP issues your Certificate of Incorporation (Annexure-C) confirming your CUIN (Corporate Universal Identification Number).
  8. Within 30 days of incorporation, pay in your subscription money — as the sole subscriber — in cash through a banking channel, as required under Section 17(2) of the Act. Once received in full, issue yourself the share certificate — physical or book-entry. If anything prevents timely receipt, report the impediment to the registrar within the same 30 days and follow their direction.
  9. Complete third-party registration — FBR (NTN), and EOBI/PESSI/SESSI if you have employees — which eZfile can route automatically at the time of incorporation.

Sections involved

§16 Section 16 — Registration of memorandum and articles §17 Section 17 — Effect of memorandum and articles §21 Section 21 — Registered office of company

Forms you'll need

App-1 App-1 — Application for Reservation of Name for New Incorporation or Change of Name Form-1 Form-1 — Application for Company Incorporation Annexure-A Annexure-A — Availability of Name Annexure-B Annexure-B — Refusal of Name Annexure-C Annexure-C — Certificate of Incorporation

How to file a form

New to SECP's eZfile / LEAP portal? See the step-by-step filing guide →

See Important Definitions

Key terms from Section 2 (Definitions) of the Companies Act, 2017 (and, where noted, the LLP Act, 2017) that matter for this task.

§2(3) articles §2(40) memorandum §2(49) private company §2(57) registrar §2(65) single member company
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