Registering as a Sole Trader/ Company...the Benefits?

eddie73

Hi, I am currently a self emplayed musician (fully tax compliant) and want to register a domain name with blacknight so I can qualify for a .ie domain. they dont allow domain registration without a reciept of company registration.

Before I go ahead and register a company name, I would like to know the pros and cons of being a company as opposed to being self employed.

Thanks

PCPhoto

if you are self employed and register as self employed with the cro and they will give you the documents that you need.

costs about 30euro .... I might be wrong here but I think you can register your name and use any form of photo ID.

eddie73

Thanks for the quick reply, I still want to know about the benefits of being a sole trader aas opposed to being self employed. If there is extra expense involved, I'm not interested in going down that road.

eddie73

Anyone with any additional info?

patftrears

eddie73 wrote: »

Thanks for the quick reply, I still want to know about the benefits of being a sole trader aas opposed to being self employed. If there is extra expense involved, I'm not interested in going down that road.

sole trader and self employed are the same thing.

you would be registering a business name not a company name.

this allows you to trade as 'Cool Music' rather than 'John Smith'

itsonlyme

eddie73 wrote: »

Hi, I am currently a self emplayed musician (fully tax compliant) and want to register a domain name with blacknight so I can qualify for a .ie domain. they dont allow domain registration without a reciept of company registration.

Before I go ahead and register a company name, I would like to know the pros and cons of being a company as opposed to being self employed.

Thanks

If you are self employed you are obliged to register your business name with the companies office.

Your accountant should of advised you of this fact prior to you operating your business.

Have you a business bank account? Surely you would of had to furnish a copy of your
Certificate of Registaration of Business Name to the bank.

If you have this Certificate that should be sufficient for the domain company as it permits you to trade as a sole trader.

There are several benefits to forming a company and equally as many onorous and costly drawbacks.

Every business is individual and different and some businesses suit operating as sole traders.

You would need to ask your accountant's advice wheter it would be beneficial for you to trade as a company
or remain as a sole trader.

Naturally enough your current P&L status will have a big bearing on whether you should form a company or not. Some other worthy considerations that will be used in determining wheter a company should be formed are;

business turnover,

profit generated,

amount of taxes to be paid,

assets of the business,

bank loan repayments,

number of employess

On the down side you will have to incur the added and nodoubtedly increased finanicial expense of conforming with all the legalities of company law, health and safety, annual audits etc etc......an annual audit will cost minimum EUR10,000 per year......

Furthermore, you will not be permitted to form a company if you have any outstanding issues/queries/monies owed to the Revenue Commissioners.


Hope this might help you Eddie.

eddie73

Many thanks itsonlyme, that is a very comprehensive answer.

businessboy

hi eddie

as far as i know you can register a .ie under your own name. so if you use your name as your stage name as such you can register it.

For example, Celine Dion could register celinedion.ie without any documentation as far as im aware.

TBH i dont see all the hype about .ie addys, .com is just a good and more internationally recognised. Out of all my web projects i always register .com even though i could use the .ie

Just my opinion.

lecheile

eddie73 wrote: »

Hi, I am currently a self emplayed musician (fully tax compliant) and want to register a domain name with blacknight so I can qualify for a .ie domain. they dont allow domain registration without a reciept of company registration.

Before I go ahead and register a company name, I would like to know the pros and cons of being a company as opposed to being self employed.

Thanks

eddie - my recommendation is to stay as sole trader and register business name - other issue to add to itsonlyme's list is that there is a cost assoicated with winding up a company if you no longer are trading and need to close it. There are some restrictions regarding allowable expenses for travel and subsistance which tend to favour ltd. company but best to keep it simple.

Is the .com version not available - a cheaper option to buy and no need for any proof of entitlement?