Questions I have about starting a new business

olliehillman

Hello,

I am looking at starting a new digital business creating software. I will not lie I am a bit of an amateur but I pick up things really quick and have a keen interest in the subject. I am currently a trainee electrical engineer and I do not plan on leaving my job to pursue this as I am far to sensible for that. I will be running this business in my spare time and as it's extremely creative the revenue will not be great/non existent until product release.

The issue is that I need to deal with startup costs and all that really is for me is £2500-£3000 on a supercomputer. I could skimp it but the issue is that a lesser computer will not cope from the demand I will put on it and also I do not wish to buy a brand I do not trust with the kind of money we are talking. So it's a Dell Alienware area 51M with 32gbRAM and i9-9900k processor fresh from dell themselves. (actually cheaper than amazon with double the RAM) I won't go into all the details but thats enough to get you googling if you're interested. It's the most powerful laptop money can buy as far as I know.

Anyway I digress. The thing is. I'm thinking if I register a business and buy that through said business, wouldn't it be tax deductible?


Like the issue I kinda morally have with it is that it's a bit of a hobbyist business and there's no guarantee it will work out. Also I doubt there will be any revenue in the first annum or like ever. So where would I stand legally?

I am serious about the idea and I will be extremely dedicated to it. This is not a pipe dream this is the last trick up my sleeve before submitting to the monotonous modern slavery that is the life of your average working man. Well that an winning the lottery but I really believe I can actually do this.

00ec25

read this:
https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/self-employment/working-out-profits-losses-and-capital-allowance/can-i-claim-pre-trade

olliehillman

00ec25 wrote: »

read this:

Thanks really helpful. If anyone else was wondering basically:
Your tax deductible expenses before your business starts trading will be deductible once you start trading up to 7 years before you start trading

moneywow1

I came here from your other thread.

What exactly do you mean by "creating software"?

Do you mean being a software developer? What languages do you intend to learn? It's very unlikely that you need a laptop with that kind of hardware.

With Alienware you're paying extra for the "gaming" aspect, and it no doubt comes with a mid/high end desktop GPU, which you won't need for software development.

Just one of the newer i5s or similar will be sufficient (even running various IDEs, debugging tools, VMs, development servers)

If you really want something high end, go for this

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/gaming-and-games/dell-g3-15-gaming-laptop/spd/g-series-15-3590-laptop/cn35921

It's still a high quality laptop from Dell, and the performance will still be extremely good, and more than enough.

olliehillman

moneywow1 wrote: »

I came here from your other thread.

What exactly do you mean by "creating software"?

Do you mean being a software developer? What languages do you intend to learn? It's very unlikely that you need a laptop with that kind of hardware.

With Alienware you're paying extra for the "gaming" aspect, and it no doubt comes with a mid/high end desktop GPU, which you won't need for software development.

Just one of the newer i5s or similar will be sufficient (even running various IDEs, debugging tools, VMs, development servers)

If you really want something high end, go for this

It's still a high quality laptop from Dell, and the performance will still be extremely good, and more than enough.

It won't let me post a URL but I want to be able to run UE4 and I have looked at the G3 and G5 previously but they wouldn't realistically cope. I don't want to play games on my laptop unless I am testing. Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions

Edit: Lets face it I am not going to realistically be able create any marketable software unless in Unity, UE4 or xcode8. I'm going to need all the help I can get. Then maybe I can work more heavily on my skill set

moneywow1

Well a "digital business creating software" seems to imply something like a company developing websites or selling web apps, not game development.

Even then, a 9750H and 1660Ti for just over £1k should still be able to handle that going off recommended specs. Would just need to upgrade the RAM. And that way you can just buy the thing on your credit card without worrying about financing and cash advances, etc.

But sure, if that's what you think you need, go for it. I don't want to derail the topic

olliehillman

moneywow1 wrote: »

Well a "digital business creating software" seems to imply something like a company developing websites or selling web apps, not game development.

Even then, a 9750H and 1660Ti for just over £1k should still be able to handle that going off recommended specs. Would just need to upgrade the RAM. And that way you can just buy the thing on your credit card without worrying about financing and cash advances, etc.

But sure, if that's what you think you need, go for it. I don't want to derail the topic

you're guessing. look at the recommended dev specs

martindow

Maybe this would be better on the Techie board as it seems to be a discussion of computer specs?

spadoosh

Theres no point in worrying about your tax obligations (And thus deductions) until it starts making money.

When it starts making money, its something you wont want to deal with and will find it most cost effective to get an accountant to look over things.

Work on the basis that youre paying the full price for the computer. Because ultimately you will be paying for it if you want it.

Putting all your effort in to making what youre selling the best it can be will be far more beneficial to you and your business than concerning yourself with offsetting the cost of a computer.

Percy1983

Guessing you are self employed, you could put the cost through AIA, which if you then make a loss you can carry that forward.

On the the computer specs, sure a Ryzen 3900x and 64gb ram would be a better bet (and probably cheaper), with that any spec in a desktop form would be cheaper and better suited if you can find a corner to put it in.