SB: Small Business Start Up Discussion

CuppaGirl8z8

yus786 wrote: »

Hi all

If this is the wrong forum - please feel free to move it..

I wish to register a new limited company where my wife will be a Director and i'll be the Secretary. (I shall be selling clothes on the web - HOPEFULLY)

Searching on google there's loads of companies out there that would do it for you.

Can anyone recomend a company i can use or should i do it myself?

Basically i wish to

1. Register as a Limited company

2. All Necessary documents completed, sent to the relevant agencies including the HMRC, and copies sent to me

3. Voluntary VAT registration (as my taxable income MAY reach the 60k threshold)

4. Domain name and email

5. A Business Bank Account with 18 months or so free banking

6. 0870/0845 telephone number (optional)

Many thanks in advance folks

I'm trying to do this as well - except not selling clothes, artwork instead. So thanks to all the replies on this thread, very helpful

Savvy_Sue

darwins_mum wrote: »

A little advice needed; I am currently thinking of setting up a small business with a social enterprise element to it, have not yet identified which legal framework to use though.
I have adverse credit as I defaulted on 3 low level agreements after suffering income shock last year. Will this prevent me from opening a basic business account? Not knowing the answer to this has become a bit of a sticking point for me.
Hope you can help

some banks will be fine, others not so fine. identify which banks have the facilities you need - eg if you need to pay in or withdraw cash on a regular basis then you need a convenient branch - and ask them ...

if you look at the bank accounts sticky you may get more help. I'd work back getting comments on banks of interest rather than starting at the beginning where info may not be current.

[Deleted User]

darwins_mum, I started a small business at the beginning of November (as a sole trader) having retired from employment. Despite having a CCJ, I was able to open up a business account with NatWest (ironic really, as my CCJ was for defaulting on my NatWest credit card!)

It's perhaps not the best of all possible deals (2 years of free banking) but so far I've found it to be a useful starting place.

Good luck with your new venture!

wordsfan

Have heard of people buying certain hard to find items and selling on online auctions. At what point legally/tax/benefits wise would this go from being an occasional hobby to a business?

Premier_2

wordsfan wrote: »

Have heard of people buying certain hard to find items and selling on online auctions. At what point legally/tax/benefits wise would this go from being an occasional hobby to a business?

Typically from the point you buy with the intention of re-selling.

Torkijo

Hi, need some basic accounting advise, my wife is about to go self employed as an Audio typist for a colleague who secures the work and then shares out what she herself can't do to 3/4 self employed typists.
About to register her as self employed and looking at the records we need to keep. Have looked at most of the advise on HMRC and Business Link but mist of it seems set up for companies that have a lot of assets - same goes for the self employment accounting books.

Can anyone point me to a good site or book or software that can advise me - or can I just record it all on an Excel sheet? (if yes anyone know of a template suitable for use in UK)

Premier_2

Torkijo wrote: »

Hi, need some basic accounting advise, my wife is about to go self employed as an Audio typist for a colleague who secures the work and then shares out what she herself can't do to 3/4 self employed typists.
About to register her as self employed and looking at the records we need to keep. Have looked at most of the advise on HMRC and Business Link but mist of it seems set up for companies that have a lot of assets - same goes for the self employment accounting books.

Can anyone point me to a good site or book or software that can advise me - or can I just record it all on an Excel sheet? (if yes anyone know of a template suitable for use in UK)

Ideally she needs to have a format that she can see day to day, week to week the financial position of the business.
This may not be too important for a self empoloyed person working through an agency or similar.

Ultimately, she needs to be in a position to account to HMRC annually her financial position (and in the case of a limited company to companies house). By the nature of the question, this sounds probably likje she would be best served by an accountant to do this at least. A discussion with the accountant now she plans to use should result in them explaining the best way to keep records so that the accountant can be most efficient (and so keep their own costs down) come the time they are needed.

Savvy_Sue

Torkijo wrote: »

Hi, need some basic accounting advise, my wife is about to go self employed as an Audio typist for a colleague who secures the work and then shares out what she herself can't do to 3/4 self employed typists.
About to register her as self employed and looking at the records we need to keep. Have looked at most of the advise on HMRC and Business Link but mist of it seems set up for companies that have a lot of assets - same goes for the self employment accounting books.

Can anyone point me to a good site or book or software that can advise me - or can I just record it all on an Excel sheet? (if yes anyone know of a template suitable for use in UK)

Premier wrote: »

Ideally she needs to have a format that she can see day to day, week to week the financial position of the business.
This may not be too important for a self empoloyed person working through an agency or similar.

Ultimately, she needs to be in a position to account to HMRC annually her financial position (and in the case of a limited company to companies house). By the nature of the question, this sounds probably likje she would be best served by an accountant to do this at least. A discussion with the accountant now she plans to use should result in them explaining the best way to keep records so that the accountant can be most efficient (and so keep their own costs down) come the time they are needed.

I'd agree with using an accountant if this is going to be a mega-bucks business, but if your wife expects not to make enough profit to have to pay tax, then the Excel spreadsheet would be the way to go, IMO. So what is the situation? Because if she's not earning much, then asking for an exemption certification from paying S/E NI would be a good first step.

Torkijo

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I'd agree with using an accountant if this is going to be a mega-bucks business, but if your wife expects not to make enough profit to have to pay tax, then the Excel spreadsheet would be the way to go, IMO. So what is the situation? Because if she's not earning much, then asking for an exemption certification from paying S/E NI would be a good first step.

Hi

Definately not megabucks, she will only be doing it for about 2 days a week around the Kids in the first 2 years, after that it will go up to 4/5 but only during school day so probably 25 hours a week max. She has been working as a TA for last year so has (just) reached the allowance for this year so would need to pay this year - can you ask for an exemption in your second tax year?

Thinking Excel really as even the £280 will eat into her profit and thinking there must be decent support around on top of HMRC and BL.

Looking at the templates on Microsoft's site but most are either domestic finances or for small companies as opposed to self employed.

garykay

darwins_mum wrote: »

A little advice needed; I am currently thinking of setting up a small business with a social enterprise element to it, have not yet identified which legal framework to use though.
I have adverse credit as I defaulted on 3 low level agreements after suffering income shock last year. Will this prevent me from opening a basic business account? Not knowing the answer to this has become a bit of a sticking point for me.
Hope you can help

DM

Hi Darwins Mum , do you have a current account that is in good order? If so I think you could find that your account provider should be able to opena business account for you based on good history, if not you may struggle