Starting up a new business

baker6743

I've started selling on ebay, 
And earning £350 so now need to register for self employed do I open a business as well I'm not sure what to do next? 

doningtonphil

Google 'HMRC Ebay' and there will be plenty of advice.  Basically you need to advise them you are self employed.  THen you will need to fill in a Self-Assessment tax return on line every year.  Are you already employed and pay tax through your weekly/monthly pay?  If so, you mention that in the tax return but you are basically focusing on your 'profit' from your ebay sales.
Keep basic accounts- an Excel spreadsheet should do.  Your income will be the total of what you sell items for.  Your expenses will be such things as ebay fees, paypal fees, postage, packaging materials- keep all of these receipts.
You enter these two figures in the HMRC Self Assessment and you will be taxed on your profits.
You dont need to go about 'setting up a business' 

Sandtree

gavin7 said:

I've started selling on ebay, 
And earning £350 so now need to register for self employed do I open a business as well I'm not sure what to do next? 

What are you selling?

If you are buying things with the intent of selling then you at a minimum need to registered with HMRC as self employed, historically you had to do this straight away but now they are more relaxed and need to do it by the September after the financial year in which you started trading... so if you started in Jan it would be that September but start in May and its not until the September of the following year.

If you are simply selling your old stuff as second hand then there is no business and no need to register.

If you are better off remaining as a sole trader or becoming a limited company is a more complex decision and one for a discussion with an accountant. In principle the amount you are earning is unlikely to give sufficient benefit from a tax perspective for incorporation however if you are selling high risk goods then it may be worth registration for a liability perspective even if its profit negative.

baker6743

Hi I sell small priced hand craft objects around £5 I'm thinking of setting up a company taking a small wage £50per week and keep the rest in the company,
Maybe put my petrol Internet bills into the company 

Savvy_Sue

You can only charge the company (if you set one up) for legitimate company expenses, ie a fair proportion of your internet costs, not the whole lot. 

doningtonphil

gavin7 said:

Hi I sell small priced hand craft objects around £5 I'm thinking of setting up a company taking a small wage £50per week and keep the rest in the company,
Maybe put my petrol Internet bills into the company 

If you are a sole trader then there is no separation between you and your company.  Any 'profit' you make will be counted as personal income for you so it will be taxed as income tax after completing as Self Assessment.  Of course, those 'profits' could be put in to a Savings Account.  If you do create a separate Ltd company then any profits you make may be liable to corporation tax.
As far as was you put 'through the business' they really do have to be legitimate and not too creative.  I had a friend who was a windowcleaner and he made a point of doing some collecting of payments from customers if he ever went to say visit his parents, so claimed 80% of his fuel as work.  Although probably 80% of his journeys included work activities the HMRC didn't see it that way and walloped him for extra tax.  
I think there are recognised limits for claiming a % of your home heat/light/utlilities bills

oldbikebloke

doningtonphil said:

If you are a sole trader then there is no separation between you and your company.  

what he means is a sole trader can use the word company but for tax purposes that is not the same as a limited ("Ltd") company, which is a separate legal entity.
If you call yourself Fred Bloggs and Co you are a sole trader
if you set up Fred Bloggs Ltd there most certainly is a separation between you and that company 

Mistral001

Why go to the trouble of setting up a ltd company?  You can run a business as a sole trader and still have a business name, a shop, employ people and be VAT registered.

robber2

Plenty of good reasons for going down the ltd company route. FOr me my clients would not deal with a Sole Trader. Other pros and cons can be found here with a little reading;

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=sole+trader+or+limited+company