business account for a student doing drop shipping at home

wilwil_uk

hi everyone i have started my dropshipping shop on ebay for a few months now as i am back to full time education after 7 years full time working and trying to make a small earning to support myself. i have quite a few problems that i have no idea at all what to do.

my uni started on 01/10/07, and i officially resigned from my old job mid Oct. i had 2 contracts with my employer (one full and one part-time) i resigned from my full time post offically at mid October and still part time contracted to this hospital so i can do some shifts with them when i want to. i received the P45 from them for my full time position. what do i need to do with this? currently im still being taxed for those part time shifts i do, and i thought being a full time student i dont get taxed? or wrong?

just before resigning from my full time post, i set up a ebay shop doing drop ship hoping to earn a small living add to my uni bursary to support my study. and never thought of whether to separate it from my personal banking. since started the ebay shop ive been doing it from my personal current and paypal accounts. whats the benefits of doing it separately?

currently i have a current account, joint account with my wife and a mortgage account all with HSBC and also a student account with Halifax. would there be any conflict if i have a business account with HSBC as well?

one thing more i have read about the uniform tax allowance on this forum, i was so excited, used the template provided by a member, sent it to tax office, expecting a cheque of a couple hundreds coming thru (claimed back the last 6 years), and guess what they put it all into my tax credit!! :mad:

can someone please give me some advices and suggestion, thanks very much

Stubert

Not sure on the other stuff, but if you are earning over £5225 per annum you will be taxed, student or not. You have already been taxed this year so you will continue you to be. If you pay too much tax you will be able to claim this back at the end of the tax year.
As it appears you're not just working in university holidays you don't qualify to fill out a P38, so you will probably be taxed regardless (unless you're on a tax code showing you earn under the amount).

CrispyUK

If you're running an eBay business you should really be registered as self-employed with HMRC, £100 fine if you don't do so within 3 months of starting if I recall correctly.

Main benefits of a business account are it's keeping business money separate from personal money, easy to account for and keep records - accept cheques, etc. in the business name.

melancholly

i'd always thought that you had to have separate accounts for personal and business money - but having googled it just now i found this website which is pretty helpful and proves that i was completely wrong!!
http://www.smallbusiness.co.uk/5.11/business-banking/guides/20060/opening-a-business-bank-account.thtml

thefuturesbright_2

Does anyone know any good and reliable drop shipping sites that i can sell stuff to people at uni through?

I would ue ebay but the fees are a rip off!