> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bumara.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Set up your business

> Enter your organisation details, connect your regulators, and let Bumara work out what you owe and when.

This is the setup that everything else depends on. What you enter here decides which obligations
Bumara creates for you, when they fall due, and which services you can request.

Set aside about twenty minutes and have your registration documents to hand.

## What to have ready

| Document or detail                                              | Why it is needed                                    |
| --------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| PACRA certificate of incorporation or business name certificate | Registration number and entity type                 |
| Your TPIN                                                       | Required for every ZRA obligation and for invoicing |
| NAPSA employer number                                           | Required for monthly pension returns                |
| NHIMA employer number                                           | Required for monthly health insurance returns       |
| Your financial year end                                         | Used to calculate annual return due dates           |
| Trading address and contact details                             | Appears on invoices and regulator submissions       |

## Step 1 — Organisation details

<Steps>
  <Step title="Enter your legal and trading names">
    The **legal name** must match your PACRA certificate exactly — this is what appears on
    regulator submissions. The **trading name** is what customers see on invoices, if it differs.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose your entity type">
    Company, business name, partnership, trust or NGO. This is the single most important field
    in setup: a company files annual returns that a business name does not, and the entity type
    controls which PACRA services are offered to you.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter your registration number and TPIN">
    Your PACRA registration number and your ten-character ZRA TPIN. Bumara checks the format as
    you type.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set your financial year end">
    Entered as a day and month. Annual returns are due a fixed number of months after this date,
    so an incorrect year end produces incorrect due dates for every year that follows.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add your address and contacts">
    Registered address, trading address if different, phone number and the email address that
    should receive official correspondence.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  Entity type and financial year end drive due date calculations. If you change either later,
  existing filings keep the due dates they were created with — only future ones are recalculated.
  Get these right now rather than correcting them later.
</Warning>

## Step 2 — Connect your regulators

For each regulator you are registered with, you create a **connection**. Connecting tells Bumara
to start tracking that regulator's obligations for you.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the regulator workspace">
    From the sidebar, choose the regulator — PACRA, ZRA, NAPSA or NHIMA. If you have not
    connected yet, you see a **Connect** prompt instead of the workspace.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter your registration details with that regulator">
    Your employer number or taxpayer identifier for that body, plus anything specific to it —
    for example, which ZRA tax types you are registered for.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose your tax types or schemes where asked">
    ZRA in particular asks which regimes apply to you: PAYE if you have employees, turnover tax
    or standard income tax depending on your turnover, withholding tax if you pay for certain
    services. Only tick what you are actually registered for.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm the connection">
    Bumara immediately creates the obligations that apply to your entity type and selections,
    and generates the first filing for each with its due date.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Your available regulators depend on your plan. See [Plan and billing](/account/plan-and-billing)
for which tiers include which bodies.

## Step 3 — Review what Bumara created

After connecting, open **Compliance** to see the result. You should find:

* One **obligation** per recurring thing you must file — for example "PAYE Return (monthly)"
  or "Annual Return (annually)".
* One **filing** per obligation for the current period, with a due date.
* A **checklist of tasks** inside each filing telling you what to do.

If something is missing or something you do not owe has appeared, it is nearly always the entity
type or the tax types you ticked. Correct those and the obligations update.

See [Obligations and filings](/compliance/obligations-and-filings) for what these mean in detail.

## Step 4 — Authorise a representative

Some regulators — PACRA in particular — require a named person authorised to act for your
business. Bumara cannot submit to those regulators on your behalf until this is in place.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the regulator's Authorisation page">
    Inside the regulator workspace, choose **Authorisation**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name your representative">
    Their full name, role at your business, email address and phone number. This is usually a
    director, the company secretary, or the owner.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Upload the letter of authority">
    A signed letter authorising that person to act for the business with that regulator.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the validity period">
    From and until dates. Bumara warns you before an authorisation expires, because an expired
    one blocks submissions.
  </Step>
</Steps>

The authorisation moves from **Pending** to **Approved** once reviewed. See
[Authorised representative](/compliance/authorised-representative).

## Step 5 — The compliance health check

Once your regulators are connected, Bumara offers a **compliance health check** — a review of
where your business actually stands with each regulator right now, including anything outstanding
from before you joined.

This is optional but strongly recommended. Most businesses discover something they did not know
about. See [Compliance health check](/start/compliance-health-check).

## Setup checklist

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Before you invite anyone else">
    * Legal name matches your PACRA certificate
    * Entity type is correct
    * Financial year end is correct
    * TPIN entered and accepted
    * At least one regulator connected
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Before your first filing">
    * Obligations reviewed and look right
    * Authorised representative added where the regulator requires one
    * Reminder preferences set — see [Reminders and notifications](/account/notifications)
    * Team invited with the right roles
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Before you start invoicing or paying staff">
    * Invoicing set up: bank details, tax rates, invoice numbering — see [Setting up invoicing](/invoicing/setting-up)
    * Payroll set up: pay day, cutoff day, departments, positions — see [Setting up payroll](/payroll/setting-up)
    * Inventory set up if you hold stock — see [Setting up inventory](/inventory/setting-up)
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<Note>
  Next: [Compliance health check](/start/compliance-health-check) to find out what is already
  outstanding, or [Invite your team](/start/invite-your-team) to bring colleagues in.
</Note>