Starting a limited business

Hi folks I'm looking to start trading as a limited company selling workwear I materials online like Amazon eBay etc

Do I need to open a business account or can I use my personal account. What's the law around it.

cheers

Hi folks I'm looking to start trading as a limited company selling workwear I materials online like Amazon eBay etc

Do I need to open a business account or can I use my personal account. What's the law around it.

 

cheers

Unless you're expecting big profits, it may not be worth all the bother to go Limited. Maybe a sole trader would be better for you? If so, you'd definitely want a distinct bank account, just for business activity, makes it much easier to do accounts when your business transactions are not all mixed up with your personal ones.

Best of luck with it.

Cheers guys

If you have a limited company you must have a separate business account. Sole traders can use their own account, if their bank is happy with this, limited companies are not allowed to do this.

Who are your target market? By that I'm really asking if you are looking to sell to micro businesses ie one man bands etc. If so then they won't mind if you are a sole trader. Bigger companies often want you to be VAT registered and limited. Its just a perception they have. We set up as a limited company and registered for VAT before we needed to for that reason. If you do set up as VAT registered before your turnover requires you to you can claim the VAT back on your purchases so it can have some advantages.

The workwear market is very competitive, especially if selling to large customers. Have you compared your prices to the competition? I don't mean ARCO either. Their is another work wear company down the road from ARCO who sell the same stuff at a fraction of the cost. I used to get discount at ARCO from their book prices but they were still twice the price of their local competitor.

Even though I was a sole trader not a limited company I stilled used a seperate business account. It keeps things simpler having seperate accounts.

Unless you're expecting big profits, it may not be worth all the bother to go Limited. Maybe a sole trader would be better for you? If so, you'd definitely want a distinct bank account, just for business activity, makes it much easier to do accounts when your business transactions are not all mixed up with your personal ones.

 

Best of luck with it.

Waldo, not necessarily . With a limited liability company, the company's liability is limited (normally £1K), sorry for stating the bleeding obvious but what I mean is, if things go wrong for the OP (and as long as he has kept within the law), then creditors can only pursue him for assets in the business (assuming the OP hasn't agreed to assign any personal assets as security)...plus the £1K. This way he protects creditors pursuing other assets (such as the home).

The downside is the need to keep accounts (which isn't a bad practice anyway) and record them at Companies House.

I agree Steve. The first few years it only cost us £600 in accountants services for a small limited company. This included the fee for the year end report and any advice on the money /accountancy side of running a business. We don't pay an awful lot more now and our accountant deals with HMRC (except VAT returns) correspondence on our behalf.

In my opinion its better to have a business account the keep your business finances separate from personal

In my opinion its better to have a business account the keep your business finances separate from personal

You don't have a choice if you own a limited company.