Limited Company vs Sole Trader

[donnk]

18 hours ago, Conorjm10 said:

Good Question!

not just profit, you can pay family members dividends ( cheaper than inc tax), you can borrow money from the company and not pay tax on it for a while, you can bump the company to clear off a debt and resurect it debt free and go again, lots of little fiddles/advantages.

[Steve Bullman]

8 minutes ago, donnk said:

not just profit, you can pay family members dividends ( cheaper than inc tax), you can borrow money from the company and not pay tax on it for a while, you can bump the company to clear off a debt and resurect it debt free and go again, lots of little fiddles/advantages.

Yep. Its all about having a good accountant, and one who knows limited companies

[Stephen Blair]

6 hours ago, benedmonds said:

It's difficult to make a straight comparison as there are other benefits from being Ltd.  The separation from personal liability being prime..

 

When we did it (a few... years ago) the additional accountancy costs seemed to be about the same as the tax efficiancy savings.. But we also loaned the business a fair chunk in goodwill..Not sure if that is still allowed. That has also brought down the tax burden.

 

In addition as an employee with a low wage child tax credits can potentially be  claimed.

It’s a myth that you are free from liability on a personal level, the the claimants may just keep going until they get money out of someone.  For any reason your ltd company insurance doesn’t pay out and they know you have assets of your own, then it all comes down to who has the best lawyer.  Friend of mine had to pay a lot of money to a lad who got hurt when the LTD company insurance wouldn’t pay out as there was negligence from the employer.  Quite right too imo.

 

 

[eggsarascal]

And going nap and taking other folk with you is a ***** trick

[benedmonds]

The differences between a sole trader and a limited company – is it time to make the change? - Checkatrade Blog

WWW.CHECKATRADE.COM

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Setting up your new trade business. Sole trader or limited company what are the key differences and advice to decide what's right for you

 

 

[Ty Korrigan]

On 19/08/2019 at 17:17, Chris at eden said:

No, a Ltd company is a separate legal entity so it gets sued, not you.  in your example you would be driving the car, not the company.   

Here, in France, I was a partner in an SARL ( limited company with 2 partners)

I went to court and won against my business partner and put my business into administration for a year.

I was aware he was up to no good but through slight of hand I could not obtain access to the company 'office' nor computer. The tribunal de commerce also neglected to enforce this point at the time.

My accountant wife believed that 'Le Perfidious French Git' was skimming, invoicing clients using a word doc for his own neferious ends. However Mrs Lee investigated and uncovered some deeper merdre involving vat and insurance fraud.

This we kept quiet about and did not inform the administrator for fear we'd be dragged under ourselves.

You see, in France, if you are guilty of fraud or mis-management, you lose the protection afforded by being limited.

Not being house owners, I'd only risk losing the car but might face prison as well as a large fine.

We went into liquidation owing €101k a third of which was social charges on salaries. 

What I lost is nothing compared to gaining my liberty and freeing myself from a truly toxic business partner.

Once liquidation was pronounced in the papers, my wife registered as self employed with I as her con-joint collaborator.

We will run this way for a couple of years before changing regime to limited.

Limited here is only really viable tax wise if your turnover is over €70k ht (plus vat)

The accountancy fees are high, €4-7k depending on how much inhouse book keeping you do.

As we are, no 'Expert accountant' is required to sign off' A great saving.

Being limited does carry more weight when bidding for larger jobs.

For the moment we are mostly domestic with a few council contracts.

  Stuart

[Trauma]

It depends on what you're doing. If your business is small, you don't need the head ache of a limited company, but if you have something bigger - you don't want to be limited by a sole trade. I don't own a none of them, neither a limited company, neither a sole trader - I'm a solo trader and I work for myself.  If I could start a business in trading, I would go for the limited company as there is where to grow and have employees. And it's been a while since I started thinking about starting a business, I think after starting with Investous CFDs Trading. I would hire young people and teach them to trade online, and then take a commission from their trades.

Edited December 31, 2019 by Trauma