[Lisaschon]

Hi everyone, my name is Lisa and here is a little bit about myself.

Married stay at home mother of 3, and like many people in the current climate we are feeling the strain of finances more than we used to.

Out of interest I have been fiddling around for the last couple of months online and have decided that I should really start looking at things more seriously.

Maybe some of you lovely people on here could give me some pointers.

In the UK, what is the best type of bank account I should go for - low cost, simple and easy to run (at least until I hit the £1million earnings bracket - only kidding)

Do I need any sort of business licence for operating an online business and also any information regarding tax would be much appreciated.

There is no panick at the moment because I've only made a couple of pound from Google at the moment but thought I had better look into the legalities of such things.

If there is a post that answers most of these questions then just point me in the right direction and I'll follow.

Lisa

[Tigglet]

Hi Lisa,

Welcome to A1!

In the UK, what is the best type of bank account I should go for - low cost, simple and easy to run (at least until I hit the £1million earnings bracket - only kidding)

Alliance and Leicester Commercial were doing a free bank account for the first two years of business. Not sure if they still are, but worth a look all the same.

Do I need any sort of business licence for operating an online business

Generally, no. Although, I think this will depend on what you are selling. E.g. if you were planning to sell alcohol in hampers then I expect you would need a licence. I am sure someone will be along shortly to confirm this.

Hope this helps.

[Terry Kyle]

Hi Lisa,


Hopefully these resources will help your exciting new journey:

www dot sba dot gov [American but still useful]


www dot money saving expert dot com [worth checking out for competitive bank account products out there right now]



www dot searchengineguide dot com [will help your google stuff]


www dot clickbank dot com [go to "Marketplace" to see the current bestselling digital products]


www dot entrepreneur dot com slash ebay slash index dot html [will help with ebay selling and marketing advice]



Good luck!


Best regards
Terry Kyle
Author/Editor
"400 Latest & Greatest Small Business Ideas From Around The World"

[IP2]

Hi Lisa and Welcome to A1

As for a choice of business bank, always found Lloyds TSB very helpful and they have again won the best business bank award this year.

Do I need any sort of business licence for operating an online business and also any information regarding tax would be much appreciated.

You do no need a license to run a business as such, but there may be legal requirements on what you plan to sell, rather than me waffle through those, perhaps you can say what you are going to be selling, o be able to give an answer appropriate to you.

Tax, well keep records and receipts of everything you spend and money in. As a sole trader you will still have your tax free allowance of £5,430 per annum, but you will need to take account of any benefits you are currently receiving into that. (This is assuming you are on a standard tax code) and is advisable to contact your local tax office (who are usually very friendly) to inform them of what you are doing.

Look forward to hearing more from you and do yell if you have more questions.

All my best
IP2

[OldWelshGuy]

I have 3 accounts
1. BOS free banking

2. Alliance & leicester free banking

3. Ltd co bank account, with Lloyds paid banking.

the free ones are great the Lloyds account is a PITA

[Lisaschon]

Wow what a response, in such a short time. Thank you one and all.

Tigglet
no alcohol to sell - it would get drunk before it made the hampers.

Terry
Thanks for the links, some I already use but the others are full of useful information as well and may come in handy.

IP2
I would mainly be selling my own information products (ebooks), maybe some affiliate stuff if it ties in with ebooks. No electronics, food, drink, no hard goods at all just downloads. Yes I am on the standard tax rate and I have already started getting logs sorted out to help keep account of any expenditure. I would like to find out what I am entitled to claim for if I am working from home. I can imagine the Tax Office web site is as user friendly as the rest of the government ones - he he he. Any more info. on this would be great. I couldn't imagine I would need an accountant at this stage, I've only made $20.

Old Welsh Guy.
I was reading up on the BOS Business accounts this morning and had a feeling I would go for that one.

But should I go for an actual Business Account now (remember the $20) or just open up another personal Bank account in my name just to use for the business, until the business grows, which of course it will do!!!!

Thank you again everyone for your help. What a great forum.

Lisa

[IP2]

Originally Posted by Lisaschon

IP2
I would mainly be selling my own information products (ebooks), maybe some affiliate stuff if it ties in with ebooks. No electronics, food, drink, no hard goods at all just downloads. Yes I am on the standard tax rate and I have already started getting logs sorted out to help keep account of any expenditure. I would like to find out what I am entitled to claim for if I am working from home. I can imagine the Tax Office web site is as user friendly as the rest of the government ones - he he he. Any more info. on this would be great. I couldn't imagine I would need an accountant at this stage, I've only made $20.


Thank you again everyone for your help. What a great forum.

Lisa

Then in answer Lisa, you don't need to worry, keep your accounts in order, for the Tax man as much as yourself. I am a great advocate of small businesses avoiding accountants, if they really don't need one. Sadly working from home does not entitle you to anything extra - this Government is not that interested in start up businesses - but I think I miss read that, you can claim for anything that you can show your business needs to set up and run. In all honesty, HMRC aren't into chasing and checking small businesses unless they have reason for suspicion...so just be sensible over what you classify as business expenses and you will be fine!

Shout if you need more help!

[James Smith]

Lisa,

from a sole trader point of view if you have no other PAYE income you can earn a fair whack before having to declare it - £105 per week for National Insurance and £5345 as above for income tax. So you should be ok just selling a few ebooks. If things get more serious then you will need to complete an annual self assessment tax return and declare your income properly.

There is tax relief available for working form home and a lot of other bits and bobs however if your income is very small it probably wont be worth paying the likes of me to do your return for you as although we can provide "peace of mind" and "paper shuffling" we are unlikely to be able to justify our fees in terms of cash savings on your tax bill if you are at the £5-10k profit level as there simply isn't much to play with so you might end up doing this yourself which TBQH is not much worse than the children's tax credits form you have probably struggled with recently! There is help available from things like my book (http://www.jamesesmith.co.uk/ebooks.htm sorry bad plug) which goes over basic record keeping and filing a small return for a self employed person.

On the banks, do watch out for the likes of Lloyds and what happens after the 18 month honeymoon period is over - ie big fees! Two offering not listed above are Abbey and BOS both have non-branch accounts which are free of charge beyond the first 18 months. I think the A&L one has a minimum deposit limit per month to stay free so watch out for that. NB I find ALL the banks are pretty poor and the only reason you get decent service is if you are lucky enough to have a good contact- who invariably moves on after a while, so its pot luck really.

Anyway good luck with the sales.

Regards,

[Indizine]

A & L is free to use and doesnt have q minimum deposit attached to it. I have 3 business accounts with them (plus my personal current and savings accounts). I find it very easy to use and meets my needs.

[James Smith]

"A & L is free to use and doesn't have q minimum deposit attached to it"

Ah I didn't know that - they used to have £1000 per month deposit limit for free banking - just looked at their site and they seem to have changed their offer - thanks for the tip