Which way to go

geddoyle

Hi everyone,

I run a website, a plain simple resourceful website for mountain bikers. I do not aim to make any money from the website. As a form of publicity I have started to take orders for a simple riders jersey that other riders can purchase from me. I aim to make no profit from this either. I also expect orders to be very low - no dot com millionaire here.

The thing is when I have taken the orders and the cash starts to flow in, in the form of cheques, I would like to put the money into a bank account which will be named as the title of the website.

What type of bank account do I need?
Am I breaking any trading laws?
Do I need to declare tax even though I am small time and aim to make no profits?
Do I need to register as a business?

Not sure which way to turn, please help.

Pink.

Hi geddoyle,

Welcome to mse

You may get more help with this on the small business board, so I'll move your thread over there.

Pink

geddoyle

Thanks everyone.

Astaroth

The business link is also a very good resource on the options open to you.

You must let tax office know of your new source of income (even if there is no net profit) - there are fairly heavy fines for failing to register within the time limit from when you start to trade.

observer_2

geddoyle wrote:

Hi everyone,

I run a website, a plain simple resourceful website for mountain bikers. I do not aim to make any money from the website. As a form of publicity I have started to take orders for a simple riders jersey that other riders can purchase from me. I aim to make no profit from this either. I also expect orders to be very low - no dot com millionaire here.

The thing is when I have taken the orders and the cash starts to flow in, in the form of cheques, I would like to put the money into a bank account which will be named as the title of the website.

What type of bank account do I need?
Am I breaking any trading laws?
Do I need to declare tax even though I am small time and aim to make no profits?
Do I need to register as a business?

Not sure which way to turn, please help.

What type of bank account do I need?

This depends on what type of business you are, but presuming it is a side line you can just put through your normal bank account, or set up a second personal account to keep the funds separate.

Am I breaking any trading laws?

Nope, you're a sole trader.

Do I need to declare tax even though I am small time and aim to make no profits?

Yes, you should declare income and costs with the IR.

Do I need to register as a business?

No. But if you are buying a product (Riders Jersey) and selling it on then you should really have a personal tax return done (rather than rely on the automatic PAYE). Any half decent accountant should do this for £100 or less.