Sole Trader and Banking

ed6hellsfresh

Hi all,

Quick question, I am in the process of registering as a sole trader and have registered a business name "Clear presentation design". I have just finished of my first paid job (I provide consultation services) and will be putting together my first ever invoice soon .

The question I have is this, can I have people pay me to my personal current account by cheque, or will it be a necessity to have a bank account registered under my business name? I obviously don't want to go breaking any laws etc.

Thanks for the help guys.

Ed

fishy21

ed6hellsfresh wrote: »

Hi all,

Quick question, I am in the process of registering as a sole trader and have registered a business name "Clear presentation design". I have just finished of my first paid job (I provide consultation services) and will be putting together my first ever invoice soon .

The question I have is this, can I have people pay me to my personal current account by cheque, or will it be a necessity to have a bank account registered under my business name? I obviously don't want to go breaking any laws etc.

Thanks for the help guys.

Ed

Im not an expert on this but im pretty sure you do not have to have a seperate account. Just make sure you keep a good record of all transactions.

Peter

MOH

I don't think you need a separate account, but might look more legit to your customers. Plus having a separate account will make it easier to track what's business related when it comes to doing your accounts.

ghosttown

Opening an account in your business name makes sense, you'll probably get free banking and some other small benefits (free SFA membership in AIB for example), and you'll certainly be glad at year end if your accountant wants to do VAT returns etc. Other benefit is professional look, you'll be able to receive monies to company name, as well as put your mobile bill etc into this account to track as business expense.

No6

You should register your trading names at the CRo for 20eur, Joe blogs trading as Clear presentation designs and then give a copy of the registration of buisness names cert to your bank to put on your personal account, that way you can lodge cheques written to you ro the buisness name. Buisness banking charges are quie a lot for small buisnesses, one man opperations with low cashflows so i would avoid like the plague, even the online banking is expensive for buisness banking. Good luck!!

kenbrady

ed6hellsfresh wrote: »

The question I have is this, can I have people pay me to my personal current account by cheque, or will it be a necessity to have a bank account registered under my business name? I obviously don't want to go breaking any laws etc.

All business cheques are marked account payee only. Businesses will only issue a cheque to match the name on the invoice.
You can operate as a sole trader under your own name ie 'John Smith'

conical

Best of luck with the new business!

Agree with all above, as long as the cheque you get matches the name of the bank account you'll be fine.

However, I'd definitely recommend getting a separate business account from the start, it keeps everything black and white and saves confusion later.
When I was starting out BoI were offering the best start-up account, but don't know what's on offer at the moment.

I'm using freshbooks.com (just the free version) for invoicing and keeping accounts (all web-based) and again, best to keep records properly from the start.

hth