can i trade under 2 names?

sarciegit

Hi,

I'm a sole trader, I have an opportunity to set up another business that is unrelated to my current business. What I want to know is can I be sarciegit t/a sarciegit enterprises and sarciegit t/a another name at the same time?


All aspects of the new side such as accounts taxes etc will be seperate to the original business.

Thanks for help

conolan

Absolutely can have more than one business name.

infamous

How would you go about doing this, would you have to change memorandum and articles with cro if it is an unrelated area of business?

blue4ever

He's a sole trader so mems and atrics are irrelevant.

sarciegit: I did that, traded under two names, but in my case two separate unrelated names - now the only issue I came across was when I invoiced and then presented the cheques to the bank they insisted that I have an account for the different trading names (event though I knew them well). Ended up with two bank fees!

dbran

Also you can only have one VAT number if you are a sole trader so keeping everything separate will be difficult unless you set one or both up as a limited company.

infamous

Lads can you set up a limited company, I have a limited co and looking to expand into a new unrelated area, was thinking of registering a new business name under the ltd company and trading as that, would i have to change memorandum and articles, can i use the one vat/tax return for both business's?

sarciegit

thanks guys, if it's just a matter of setting up a new bank a/c then its prob easier to do that rather than go down the whole limited company road at this stage

dbran

infamous wrote: »

Lads can you set up a limited company, I have a limited co and looking to expand into a new unrelated area, was thinking of registering a new business name under the ltd company and trading as that, would i have to change memorandum and articles, can i use the one vat/tax return for both business's?

Hi

Usually it is unnecessary to worry about changing the memorandum and articles as they are usually drafted so widely that any activity can be carried out other then the main one without the directors exceeding their powers. Have a look at your companies memo and articles and check.

Kind Regards


dbran

infamous

Thanks DBran will do, I take its possible to write losses from one trade against profits from the other, my current business will have about 80k profit this year while i exopect my new business to have losses in year one and two, also are their issues with transferring cash between the two divisions