Two seperate bank accounts for two different self employed jobs?

WarrenFields

I'm about to go self employed doing two separate things. One will be an online shop with lots of income and outgoings the other is a service to local people paid with cash and pretty much no outgoings.

Do I need to have a bank account for each legally? Or can I just use one?

I'm going to get an account for self employed work separate from my personal account but unsure about what to do if I'm doing two different types of work.

InsideInsurance

If you are a sole trader/ self employed you have no legal requirement to have separate accounts as you and your "business" are legally one and the same. Some banks will however stipulate that you cannot use a personal account for sole trader activities.

It can be cleaner for you to have the two, likewise if you have two different trading names it will be easier to accept cheques in those names if you have two accounts but you dont have to.

steve1980

You don't HAVE to have 2 different accounts but as the second job is essentially cash in hand it would make your life a hell of lot easier should you have a HMRC review.

lcharm

steve1980 wrote: »

You don't HAVE to have 2 different accounts but as the second job is essentially cash in hand it would make your life a hell of lot easier should you have a HMRC review.

What are you suggesting here?

Warren:

Put it this way, it doesn't matter whether you have 1 or 2 sole trader accounts as it's different from having a LTd company, when you do your self assessment they are assessing you as a sole trader despite however many different trading activities you have.

That being said, having 2 accounts will allow you personally to be able to differentiate your income/outgoings

Mistral001

You have to remember that you will pay personal income tax to HMRC. The firm will not be taxed. For your own accountancy purposes, it is often convenient to have a business account separate from your personal account for each business, but you have to be very well disciplined to make sure that you do not put amounts into the wrong account. I would imagine that HMRC will be just as interested in your personal account as the business accounts if they do study your tax affairs.