sole trader - more than one business?

mando_2

Hi,

I started self employed in April with a business and regsitered with the Tax man. I have another business idea but want it to be seperate to the first business. Do I need to register again with the Tax man with the second business name? How do I do the books? Do I keep them seperate then when my self assessment form comes through lump them together?

Any other advice on running two businesses at the sametime would be appreciated.

Cheers.

Rafter

Not sure you can do this.

If you are self-employed your business is effectively you. The fact you are doing two different things is of no interest to the tax man who just wants to know your total income.

This can work to your advantage since if one business loses money and the other is profitable you can offset the losses from one against the other.

Only way to achieve this would be to set up a limited company or two I think. Not as difficult as it sounds and I think there are other boards on here about how to do it.

R

Poppy9

Agree the tax man is only interested in what taxable income you have. This could be a mixture of PAYE, self employment, savings income etc.

If you have two business you would draw up your profit and loss for both separately. However on your tax return you would enter just one figure for profit/loss. You will hit problems though if you have different accounting periods. i.e. one business runs from Jan-Dec and the second from Apr-Mar. When or if one of your businesses cease trading you will have to do an adjustment to take account of your year end etc. You can call into your tax office to get advice with any queries. Only problem is some are more clued up than others and you can have the wrong answer from them.