setting up business from home

PM

I am thinking of buying goods to sell online, I thought if I could get a PO BX address to my house and start selling online to earn some cash while im at uni.

my question is what will I need to consider, e.g. will i need to tell the council, and will i be charged business rate,, ??? ive got new clue.

bridiej

You only need to tell the council if you are using one room solely for business use. If you do use the room solely for business use you are charged business rates based on just this one room.

I run a small business and have my office in the spare bedroom, but the other half of the room is still a bedroom.

You will certainly need to tell the Inland Revenue of your plans.

If you are buying goods to sell on you need to think about where you will store the goods and check your mortgage (if you have one!) and house insurance to see if you are covered for this - you may well need to take out some form of business insurance.

Hope this is some help... and Good luck!  ;D

Savvy_Sue

YI run a small business and have my office in the spare bedroom, but the other half of the room is still a bedroom.

You will certainly need to tell the Inland Revenue of your plans.

You can set 'use of your home' against your tax liability too, I think this applies even if there isn't a whole room set aside. You can claim a proportion of your heat, light etc, so f you use 1/10 of your home exclusively for your business then claim 1/10 of bills. Don't be greedy: you'll regret it!

vansboy

Like Sue says, you can claim an allowance, here, BUT...

It is only a good idea, if you RENT your home!!

The Inland Revenue, now look VERY deeply into any allowances, they make on your home, when you decide to sell. Capital gains liabilities could/would be applied on any increased value, of the 'business' part.

Never easy, is it.

& you should make the council aware, as an informal planning aspect, could become an issue, if things grow!

Write to the planning office & tell them, your intentions. They'll more than likely OK it, with no problem (or cost).

VB

Savvy_Sue

And Vansboy knows an awful lot more about this than I do, so listen to him!

But I know a bit about rented homes, and if you are renting, check your tenancy agreement. If you are renting from the council or a social landlord, double check with them. If the business will cause no 'nuisance' to neighbours they'll normally be fine, but the last thing anyone ever needs is an eviction notice because you are in breach of your tenancy. If you are selling but not having deliveries made to your home then I can't see how it could cause a nuisance, but I suppose if it's dried fish or something like that you have in mind it could do.

bridiej

Thanks vansboy

I claim a proportion of utility bills every year, is this going to cause problems if we sell?

Should I bring this up with my accoutant next year end?

vansboy

Thanks for the compliment sue (blush)!!

Utility bills are probably Ok - it's when you start charging yourself an amount for using the actual premises, that you could come unstuck!!

VB

Murphy_The_Cat

good luck with the new business PM.

A quick word of warning, DON'T, DON'T,DON'T do anything that may cause you to come to the attention of Inland Revenue, Customs & Excise, VAT or DSS - the powers that these people have are very scary.

while in the short term it may seem attractive to be 'ahem' a bit evasive in the way you run your business, the repercussions for the long term can be horrendous.

I am not of course suggesting that you had any ideas that were less pure than the driven snow - but it can seem tempting.

Also, right from the word go, do your research and find a good accountant that you can get on with - a good accountant can save/make you a lot of money.

And while i'm at it your local businesslink has help, info and funding coming out of its ears for new businesses.

MTC ;D

bridiej

Thanks for the compliment sue (blush)!!

Utility bills are probably Ok - it's when you start charging yourself an amount for using the actual premises, that you could come unstuck!!

VB

Thanks VB!  :)

We should be OK then as I only get a small amount of the bills, not including mortgage payments...

PM

Thank you very much for your Help! thats Great