Need basic advice on setting up a business

ATDub

Hi,
am totally clueless and would really appreciate any advice. Am in the process of setting up a small business- have a full-time job but have some capacity to work privately at weekends. It would not be an extensive work, and I wouldn't anticipate it bringing in much income (€5-10,000 per year) but want to do everything above board etc.

I have registered a business name with the CRO but need advice on a few areas:
- am I better to set up as a sole trader, company or can I use the self-assessment apporach annually
- what about VAT? Would be a service related industry
- am I best to get an accountant, and if so, what are the fees likely to be, or is it feasible for a small operation to do this myself?

If anyone can help, or can suggest resources online etc that would be worth my investigating I would really appreciate it!

jdj009

is it really worth it for that monry

ATDub

Yes, it would be a good move professionally. Given the amount of money involved I'd like to keep it as simple as possible though. Don't want lots of hassle given the small amount involved really

ssbob

ATDub wrote: »

I have registered a business name with the CRO but need advice on a few areas:
- am I better to set up as a sole trader, company or can I use the self-assessment apporach annually
- what about VAT? Would be a service related industry
- am I best to get an accountant, and if so, what are the fees likely to be, or is it feasible for a small operation to do this myself?

Your better off setting up as a sole trader, if things take off then you can always change to a ltd company later, I would not go the self assessment approach.
In terms of VAT, will you be supplying a service to businesses or to end users? If it is businesses, it might be worth your while registering for VAT however if it is to end users, it will just make your service more expensive and you are nowhere near the limit of €37,500 turnover where you have to register for VAT.
I would say get an accountant, depending on the amount of work he does for you(make sure you keep everything neat and recorded for him) he may charge you anything between €500-€1000.

Where are you based and what is the service?

Homer

Do you need to buy lots of equipment to get your business up and running that have a VAT cost to them that might be reclaimed by registering for VAT?
If not I would go down the sole trader route for sure. You can always register for VAT at a later date.
Best of luck.

ssbob

Homer wrote: »

Do you need to buy lots of equipment to get your business up and running that have a VAT cost to them that might be reclaimed by registering for VAT?
If not I would go down the sole trader route for sure. You can always register for VAT at a later date.
Best of luck.

Homer you can register for VAT as a sole trader. Even if you are not registered for vat, you can claim the vat as a business expense in your year end tax returns.

Homer

ssbob wrote: »

Even if you are not registered for vat, you can claim the vat as a business expense in your year end tax returns.

Really? I didn't know that. Must investigate and try get my bill down even more

ssbob

Homer wrote: »

Really? I didn't know that. Must investigate and try get my bill down even more

Yes really. If you are registered for VAT then your business expenses should be exclusive of VAT however if you are not registered then your business expenses are inclusive of VAT.

If you are selling B2B then it works out cheaper to register but if you are selling direct to the end user then you need to consider the effect that VAT would have on your price.

ATDub

ssbob wrote: »

Your better off setting up as a sole trader, if things take off then you can always change to a ltd company later, I would not go the self assessment approach.
In terms of VAT, will you be supplying a service to businesses or to end users? If it is businesses, it might be worth your while registering for VAT however if it is to end users, it will just make your service more expensive and you are nowhere near the limit of €37,500 turnover where you have to register for VAT.
I would say get an accountant, depending on the amount of work he does for you(make sure you keep everything neat and recorded for him) he may charge you anything between €500-€1000.

Where are you based and what is the service?

Thanks for the advice folks.

In answer to your question re who I'd be supplying a service to, it would be to businesses- basically I am a healthcare professional who is being asked to provide reports to solicitors as part of legal cases. Based in Dublin.

ssbob

ATDub wrote: »

Thanks for the advice folks.

In answer to your question re who I'd be supplying a service to, it would be to businesses- basically I am a healthcare professional who is being asked to provide reports to solicitors as part of legal cases. Based in Dublin.

Because you are a healthcare professional, I would advise you to seek the advice of an accountant, the simple reason for this is that there are certain legal obligations on healthcare professionals when carrying on their own business, for instance even though you are providing a service, I would say that you would be classified as a consultant therefore charging 21% VAT.

An accountant will not charge you for an initial meeting and these can last for a few hours, therefore you will initially get a lot of information for free, you will agree a fee and sign a letter of engagement after this initial meeting.