Self Employment and BR

emski121

Hi,

I have just decided that BR is the route that I am going to take, but am not sure where I stand with my business. I am in full time employment but last year started a cake decorating business which I do in my spare time. It has not been very sucessful, mainly due to the fact that I didnt have any funds to put into it to get it going, and therefore have not made any money from it. Any money earnt from cakes I sold went back into the business for ingredients etc.

I have no business account and it was set up as a sole trader business not a limited company so that bit is fine, but on the paperwork on the insolvency website it talks about whether you have been involved in the management of a company etc. I am planning to write to hmrc to advise that I am no longer trading and basically plan to close everything until the whole br thing is sorted out.

My question is do I need to declare my little side business and any money that I did make/put back into it. I dont have accounts as such as only had about 4 customers!!!!

Any help would be grately appreciated.

Thanks

headoutofsand

emski121 wrote: »

Hi,

I have just decided that BR is the route that I am going to take, but am not sure where I stand with my business. I am in full time employment but last year started a cake decorating business which I do in my spare time. It has not been very sucessful, mainly due to the fact that I didnt have any funds to put into it to get it going, and therefore have not made any money from it. Any money earnt from cakes I sold went back into the business for ingredients etc.

I have no business account and it was set up as a sole trader business not a limited company so that bit is fine, but on the paperwork on the insolvency website it talks about whether you have been involved in the management of a company etc. I am planning to write to hmrc to advise that I am no longer trading and basically plan to close everything until the whole br thing is sorted out.

My question is do I need to declare my little side business and any money that I did make/put back into it. I dont have accounts as such as only had about 4 customers!!!!

Any help would be grately appreciated.

Thanks

Hi there. Don't bother with the "Have I been involved with management of a company" unless you are director of one which by the sound of it, you aint.

Have you not got ANY bits of paper ?computer records of your cake biz, bank statements etc?

How long exactly were you in business?

Most people make nothing in the first years anyway but have you received a tax return of any sort?

The OR may not be bothered to much if the business did not contribute to your downfall, however the tax man will still want some sort of figure from you. That can wait for now though. Others will be here to help shortly. The above are just a few questions that may be useful in helping you along;)

emski121

I started the business in October last year, so have got to do a tax return for Oct-April, so if I do it now then that might be all the info the OR/taxman will need.

The only bank statements I have are my personal ones as the money went into that account, however it was mostly cash that got spent straight away.

headoutofsand

emski121 wrote: »

I started the business in October last year, so have got to do a tax return for Oct-April, so if I do it now then that might be all the info the OR/taxman will need.

The only bank statements I have are my personal ones as the money went into that account, however it was mostly cash that got spent straight away.

The OR will probably ask for some business records, however you may have to explain the low turn over of the cake biz. I know it's all very well me saying "you should have records of the biz" but alot don't and get in hot water. Have you NO records at all?. You say" I could do the tax return now" but how can you if there are no records?.

Have you got details of why you are filing for BR?

Even though you were sort of s employed, as a sole trader it's personal BR not like a LTD company BR, so every thing is in the same pot. Please post away;)

debtinfo

Nothing to worry about if you only had 4 customers, but you will be asked a few questions eg did you buy any special cake making equipment etc. You wont get in hot water for not having records due to the fledgling nature of the business and you will not have had to produce account to the HMRC by this point in time

emski121

Thanks headoutofsand and debtinfo, You have put my mind at rest a bit. I really should have kept more of a record of the business I did, I think the problem was that it never really got going to I didnt bother keeping much of a record, just jotted some stuff down in a note book.

I spoke to the CCCS today and basically my best option is BR as I dont have enough of a surplus for an IVA so I am in the process of gathering all the info I might need so I guess I need to gather as much cake business stuff up as possible.

Thanks again for the advice.