Employed and starting small business as sole trader, should I register VAT

athenianguy75

Hi everyone,

sorry but it's quite new this for me.
I'm currently employed in a company, and I have a chance to start as sole trader to provide a small number of consultancy which should give me 10K-20K of additional income.

I understand I'll need to do a Self-Assestment, my questions are related to VAT, on the UK gov website (https://www.gov.uk/vat-registration) i found this :

"You must register your business for VAT with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) if its VAT taxable turnover is more than £85,000."

This is just related to the taxable amount produced as sole trader, or should I consider the income obtained as employee of the other company?

From my understanding I don't need to register any VAT as the income as sole trader will be very low, am I right?

Grumpy_chap

Only the turnover of your sole trader business is relevant with respect to your own business and need to register for VAT.

Your PAYE income from elsewhere is irrelevant for your sole trader business.

MalMonroe

Here is some comprehensive advice from the government 

https://www.gov.uk/vat-registration/when-to-register

Thrugelmir

athenianguy75 said:

From my understanding I don't need to register any VAT as the income as sole trader will be very low, am I right?

Correct. Employment income is not revenue. 

martindow

A bit off topic, but is your employer aware of your idea?  Particularly if it is in the same line of business it is important that you clear it with them.  Your contract of employment may well have clauses relatinfg to a situation like this.

Sandtree

athenianguy75 said:

From my understanding I don't need to register any VAT as the income as sole trader will be very low, am I right?

Thats correct, you dont have to register for VAT if your self employed earnings are below £85k, 

There are a few circumstances where voluntary registration can be a good idea though, namely if you are selling virtually only 0% rated items (eg kids clothes) or if all your customers are going to be VAT registered businesses.