Luke
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rusty69bus
moving to the goldcoast
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been thinking along simular lines of setting myself up as a small business
so far the opinon is to set yourself up as a,as a metalworker/fabricator limited liability company with public liability isurance,write all your trainig needs off under tax loss against profit along with all new/secondhand tooling deperiatiion, materials?
so far the opinon is to set yourself up as a,as a metalworker/fabricator limited liability company with public liability isurance,write all your trainig needs off under tax loss against profit along with all new/secondhand tooling deperiatiion, materials?
You can certainly right off against tax any & all training costs, plant & equipment, vehicles, rent, rates etc.etc. but I would tread carefully on the Limited company side.
The Government introduced a scheme a few years ago that if you became a Limited company you would not pay any tax on profits below £10k. Great! everybody thought, no tax to pay! (most small businesses don't make more than £10k after all overheads!) and rushed to go Limited.
And then guess what?... the ******** changed the rules!!
The only reason you would need to go Limited is if you will have a lot of outstanding money owed (eg.more than your house is worth), ie.work 'on account', otherwise, forget it.
weldequip
The Government introduced a scheme a few years ago that if you became a Limited company you would not pay any tax on profits below £10k. Great! everybody thought, no tax to pay! (most small businesses don't make more than £10k after all overheads!) and rushed to go Limited.
And then guess what?... the ******** changed the rules!!
The only reason you would need to go Limited is if you will have a lot of outstanding money owed (eg.more than your house is worth), ie.work 'on account', otherwise, forget it.
weldequip
rusty69bus
moving to the goldcoast
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ah,the Limited company side because i didn't want anyone to be able to take my house, so it seems i may have got it wrong
If you have tens/hundreds of thousands of pounds owed to you & some shark stings you (and they will) you could lose your house if you are not Limited. If the majority of your work is paid on completion (as it should be) & you just have small outstanding debts, no need to go Limited.
weldequip
weldequip
rusty69bus
moving to the goldcoast
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thanks so what way looks best looking at under 10k profit a year (won't hold you to anyting just need some pointers) employing just myself looking to rent sall workshop space
If most of your work is paid on completion & you will have minimal debts, "Sole Trader". The other thing you will have to consider is becoming VAT registered, what turnover do you anticipate? (a tough one I know, but the bank will ask you the same question for a business plan).
weldequip
weldequip
rtbcomp
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You can still lose your house if you are a director of a limited company because if you have funding from the bank they will take your house as security.
Yes, the corporation tax fiddle is a barsteward, in my case it means less cash to put back in the business.
The biggest downside for me of being limited is the bureaucracy, you have to keep a balance sheet as well as profit & loss, you have to fill in a company tax return as well as your own, if you pay yourself you have to set up a payroll system.
If you go into business with someone else, set it up on a formal basis. A limited Co. is one way of doing this.
Yes, the corporation tax fiddle is a barsteward, in my case it means less cash to put back in the business.
The biggest downside for me of being limited is the bureaucracy, you have to keep a balance sheet as well as profit & loss, you have to fill in a company tax return as well as your own, if you pay yourself you have to set up a payroll system.
If you go into business with someone else, set it up on a formal basis. A limited Co. is one way of doing this.
rtbcomp
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If you do service work for Joe Public don't register for VAT, if you sell things to VAT registered businesses do register. Decide for yourself on a scale between the two, bearing in mind registration isn't compulsary for turnover less than £42000 (???) but you can get VAT back on capital expenditure, if you buy it from a VAT registered supplier.
On capital, you can't claim capital expenses against income/corporation tax, only the depreciation thereon. There is/was an exemption to this for computer equipment.
Ratty
Putting the She in Sheds
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IMHO the best thing anyone in business can do is get a GOOD accountant - preferably on recommendation as there are some pretty useless ones out there. Mine is brilliant and saves me far more than I pay him and I always take his advice and let him do the all the tedious dealing with paperwork and officials which leaves me free to be creative. As for writing stuff off against tax, included in this are my dogs (security and work inspiration) and trips abroad - if they're not directly work related they are 'inspirational'. Ok I'm an artist but even creative metal workers need to travel to get ideas about steel structures used in other cultures..don't they?
Ive done some sculpture.started life as a blacksmith.
..gave most of it away when me and Ex split....sod cars... any money in that
I do have a chance to 1/2 inch an unwanted anvil block and stands...making a forge is easy....Ho HUM
As for staying put..........Try taking constant flack from 20 + mouthy kids and keep smiling....welding is way way better. SOB SOB
..gave most of it away when me and Ex split....sod cars... any money in that I do have a chance to 1/2 inch an unwanted anvil block and stands...making a forge is easy....Ho HUMAs for staying put..........Try taking constant flack from 20 + mouthy kids and keep smiling....welding is way way better. SOB SOB
Shug
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Ditto what everyone else is saying really a mate of mine did the limited thing and as mr equip said they changed the rules, I am V.A.T reg, I tend to only work for V.A.T reg companys and works just fine. As ratty said a good acountant and as you grow a solicitor is a must, you find if there good there charge a hell of a rate an hour but your only need them for a few hours a year so works at pretty cheep in the end. I got sick of doing jobs for small people who really didnt want to pay me properly and now only work for a handfull of larger companys i have quite a good relationship with them trust on both sides is a must. Oh yes geting meterial money up front is not a bad idea if you dont know the person from adam.
How about a section for bussiness and training malcom? theres quite a few threads on it lately.
How about a section for bussiness and training malcom? theres quite a few threads on it lately.
rtbcomp
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There are chartered and honest accountants. You only need a chartered accountant if you require an audit, which only applies to companies with a turnover greater than £1 million. I dropped a right clanger and engaged a chartered accountant because he used to be a customer. Got stung for £400 in my first year, even though I'd only issued 40 invoices, average £10.00 each one. I sacked him when he failed to notice that I was claiming VAT on postage costs.
Don't forget HMRC are very helpful, obviously they have a biased view, but if you get everything in writing you should be OK.
It's not in the interest of a "normal" accountant to rip you off, it's in his interest that your business should grow.
Don't forget HMRC are very helpful, obviously they have a biased view, but if you get everything in writing you should be OK.
It's not in the interest of a "normal" accountant to rip you off, it's in his interest that your business should grow.
