Can't be Co. Director on DRO - What about Sole Trader?

TryingToWork

Hi

I have finally learned how to make money from ads on my blog, so I was eager to put it into practice.

But I pay a huge amount in overdraft interest, and it looks like I will be getting a Debt Relief Order as I fulfill all the critera, after talking to a debt expert.

I went to this link: [FONT=&quot]https://www.gov.uk/options-for-paying-off-your-debts/debt-relief-orders [/FONT]
to see if there were any disadvantages to having a DRO, that the debt advisor didn't mention. And I can't have more than £50 a month, disposable income for the year the DRO is in place. But that's fine; I won't have. Disclaimer: - I plan to reinvest every penny I make from ads on my blog, so I will NOT be making any profit, at least not for the first year. And I have help in place to ensure I keep my finances organised.

But the .gov.uk link also says you can't be a Director of a company when you have a DRO. Well I was hoping to be a Sole Trader, so would I technically be a Director, or is that just for Limited Companies?

Or to put it another way; Can I have a Registered Sole Trader Business while there is a DRO in place?

Thanks a lot

jonesMUFCforever

If you mean register the business with HMRC as self employed - yes can't see anything wrong with that.
However you might find your figures will not work out in the way you hope.
As a sole trader your income from the ads will be just that - income.
How you get round the £50 you will need the advice of a professional such as an accountant.

TryingToWork

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

If you mean register the business with HMRC as self employed - yes can't see anything wrong with that.
However you might find your figures will not work out in the way you hope.

Thanks a lot, but do you know if the owner of a Sole Trader business is called a Director?

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

As a sole trader your income from the ads will be just that - income.
How you get round the £50 you will need the advice of a professional such as an accountant.

Thanks, that's why I put the Disclaimer. It is only income if I make a profit. I already have the necessary bookkeeping tools and expert help to ensure I reinvest ALL money made, back into the business. If I make say, £100 one month, I just buy something on the list that my business needs, that costs about that much. In my case it will mostly be spent on outsource freelance writers.

CKhalvashi

TryingToWork wrote: »

Thanks a lot, but do you know if the owner of a Sole Trader business is called a Director?

As long as you don't intend to mislead (as in using Ltd, Limited, etc) then I see no problem with it.

As a sole trader you can call yourself anything. El Jefe would be my personal choice, but it's completely up to you.

robber2

TryingToWork, the link you have posted is headed running a limited company. This is all completely irrelevant to being a Sole Trader.

As a sole trader you are NOT a Director (in the legal sense) and there are no restrictions on you having a DRO.

regards

Rob

TryingToWork

OK I found this site:
http://www.andersonbrookes.co.uk/sole-traders/sole-trader-available-solutions/debt-relief-order
and plan to ring them tomorrow, as it's late now.

Their advice seems to be aimed at Self Employed people who run into debts and then have a DRO, rather than myself who will get the DRO first, then want to be self employed.

I'll see what they say.

robber2

TryingToWork, pleaed dont do it, they just exist to find a way of extracting money from you in the form of fees.

Please believe me, there is no legal reason at all that you cant become a sole trader with a DRO.

As a director of a limited company with a wife who is a Sole Trader I have some knowledge of the law on this topic.

rob

robber2

Ive done some more work for you;
heres some free, impartial advice which confirms what I posted above;

https://www.businessdebtline.org/EW/factsheets/Pages/BDL23%20BDL%20EW%20Debt%20relief%20orders%20(DROs)/Default.aspx

NotEvanAPot

TryingToWork, you will not be a director if you trade under your own name or that of a trading as name.

I have done the same since BR (similar rules for those under DRO) in February, openly and frankly discussed things with OR and I simply have to submit my personal bank account statement monthly along with a breakdown of income, costs and tax provision against my living expenditures. I have also blatantly told the OR that if my "profit" for a month hits the amount they would start looking to set up an IPA, I will stop work until the next month. They accepted this, but did say they would scrutinise things closely until discharge in February.

Basically, go for it, but be honest, don't fiddle things, remember taxes need accounting for and above all DO NOT pay for advice from cretinous advisors found on Google.

TryingToWork

Hi

That's very helpful thanks a lot Robber2 and NotEvanAPot.:beer:

Robber2 I didn't see your first post, as I was posting at the same time last night. (I'm dyslexic and take ages writing posts, so the post window was open for ages.) Thanks a lot for the link. You are very kind.

And thanks NotEvanAPot, for that advice. I appreciate it. Yes, I will be very careful. I wouldn't be able to fiddle even if I wanted to, because I'd get paid through Paypal and my bank so everything would be recorded. I will also put every transaction through Quicken online software (or a different one if I can find a good one cheaper).

I did ring that site today and they confirmed I can be a Sole Trader on DRO. (this was before I switched my PC on so I didn't see the posts on here).

So I'm looking forward to blogging and hopefully in a year when the DRO is up, I will finally be able to earn my own keep!

thanks for your help, take care