Business bank accounts
- Thread starter vickster
- Start date
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Yes quite happy not to do tax returns. Will have to once business running but I'll use an accountant
If you are going ltd I did not know you had an option, must admit I had 10 years ltd and although it costs me a bit more tax I prefer being sole trader.
I would not give any advice on who too bank with, I was just giving you my own personal experience of over 40 years of business banking. Anyways as far as I know you are safe up to a fair limit.
OP
OP
vickster
Squire
You don't have an option. I don't think some trader would work for my situation. All the other MR freelancers I know are limited. I'll need to VAT register too
I have the VAT bit, so easy on Sage, I have a lot of invoices along with import and export and it works great for me.
phil_hg_uk
I am not a member, I am a free man !!!!!!
Why cant you be a sole trader ?
I am VAT registered, at the time I registered I was going over the VAT limit but since then the limit has gone up & I am seriously considering de-registering, unless you expect to go over the limit or you are anticipating been able to claim a large amount back dont bother.
- Location
- Somewhere wet & hilly in NW England.
One advantage of a small business being a limited company is that you can reduce your NI liability quite significantly.
phil_hg_uk
I am not a member, I am a free man !!!!!!
I have to agree with you, I have been a sole trader for over 20 years & I looked into becoming ltd and I would be about £700 better off with the NI 'savings' etc vs the expenses of beign ltd but I prefer to stay a sole trader at the moment.
annedonnelly
Girl from the North Country
- Location
- Canonbie
Bankwise I used Cater Allen for business bank for a long time. Didn't do much apart from pay in and pay out money electronically, but I had no problems with them. And there were no charges.
Going back to your original question - I found Nat West fine for our business bank account. Zero fees for 18 months. After that time you can then look around for another bank offering zero fees. Re NI and paying dividends, we did the same thing. Paid ourselves the minimum we could on PAYE - to use up the personal allowances - and then paid the balance as dividends. Obviously corporation tax would need to be paid before any dividends. However with the recent budget the rules on dividends have changed - the first £5,000 is tax free, but after that some tax is payable. Worthwhile talking to an accountant who is au fait with all of the latest rules. Also you can charge the company 'rent' for use of home office - we charged £1,500 each per annum.
Agree with comments on VAT - if you can avoid it do as it is a pain in the butt. So unless you are over the limit, or have a good amount of VAT input to reclaim, I would avoid registering. But it's your decision. Good luck.
Agree with comments on VAT - if you can avoid it do as it is a pain in the butt. So unless you are over the limit, or have a good amount of VAT input to reclaim, I would avoid registering. But it's your decision. Good luck.
Flying Dodo
It'll soon be summer
There are a number of advantages and disadvantages of both the sole trader and limited company route. A good summary of the differences is shown here, although there's no right or wrong. For example although you can extract your income as dividends under a limited company and so save on NI compared with a sole trader, with the new dividend allowance now in force, it's less advantageous than it used to be for higher rate tax payers, but that's got to be balanced against the requirement for more paperwork. Certainly for some lines of work, a limited company is seen as being more "official" when tendering for work.
It all depends what's right for the individual, which a good accountant should be able to advise on.
It all depends what's right for the individual, which a good accountant should be able to advise on.
Spoked Wheels
Legendary Member
- Location
- Bournemouth
I've had a business account with Santander for many years and it's still free. They are fine as long as you do all your deposits and withdrawals through a machine. They get very funny if you try to do it over the counter. I'm not too bother as I seldom have the need to do that.
My business account was with TSB (became Lloyds TSB) and they were fine.
As an aside................have you looked at making it an LLP company as against Ltd............that's what my accountant recommended. It seemed to have the benefits but with less hassle
As an aside................have you looked at making it an LLP company as against Ltd............that's what my accountant recommended. It seemed to have the benefits but with less hassle
