Commercial tax and sole trader

Wicked131

Hi,

I'm currently registered as a sole trader since june this year, my turnover so far is 0 (zero) and will stay at this level for the next couple of months.

I'm thinking of buying a car that already is commercially taxed, can I keep paying commercial tax for it?

How does it work if I'll decide to get a car and convert it to commercial?

Am I even eligible for commercial tax?

mulbot

Wicked131 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm currently registered as a sole trader since june this year, my turnover so far is 0 (zero) and will stay at this level for the next couple of months.

I'm thinking of buying a car that already is commercially taxed, can I keep paying commercial tax for it?

How does it work if I'll decide to get a car and convert it to commercial?

Am I even eligible for commercial tax?

Have you a company number,or a VAT no.? Won't be a problem taxing it as commercial if so. If you convert a car etc to commercial you need an engineer's report and hen you can tax as commercial-There's also an option to keep ,say a 4x4 ,etc with back seats and tax that as commercial

Wicked131

mulbot wrote: »

Have you a company number,or a VAT no.? Won't be a problem taxing it as commercial if so. If you convert a car etc to commercial you need an engineer's report and hen you can tax as commercial-There's also an option to keep ,say a 4x4 ,etc with back seats and tax that as commercial

I'm not registered for VAT, forgot to mention.

I do have a company number, it's fully registered with CRO.

So there shouldn't be a problem?

mulbot

Wicked131 wrote: »

I'm not registered for VAT, forgot to mention.

I do have a company number, it's fully registered with CRO.

So there shouldn't be a problem?

Yea the company no. should be fine, i've used one or the other for me and never had a problem

Wicked131

mulbot wrote: »

Yea the company no. should be fine, i've used one or the other for me and never had a problem

Wow, is it really that easy? Didn't expect that hah

148multi

There is a crvt centre in Cavan that will pass your car-van, it's not as big a deal as people make it out to be. Have done it myself pretty straight forward, will get the name for you.

Wicked131

148multi wrote: »

There is a crvt centre in Cavan that will pass your car-van, it's not as big a deal as people make it out to be. Have done it myself pretty straight forward, will get the name for you.

Awesome, thanks pal.

And what's involved in such a conversion?

drunkmonkey

Check out the tax implications, might be more benifical to have your own car and charge expensives for it. Make sure she's diesel to get the vat back. You can still claim it I think even if you only register in a year or 2..

Tigger

Hi op
You need to chat to an accountant as Drunkmonkey said you can sometimes drive your own car and claim mileage at civil service rates which is a way people sorta pay themselves a tax efficient income. This is done by forming a limited company not by being a sole trader and you should be aware tho that there are rules and a bunch of IT contractors got in trouble because they did it wrong.
The short answer is I'm a sole trader
I drive a 4x4 that has back seats and is classed as a crew cab but in reality is a standard passenger model with ce approved straps and mounting points
And a dog cage . I pay commercial tax and there is no issue .
Cars are a different matter it's to do with the opening to load goods and the % of load area / wheelbase so you are talking big estates like v70 estates or eclass estates
BMW X5 are available new and second hand as "crew cabs" and are popular
Eric Cartman is the forum expert on this he has a big Isuzu d max iirc

rahmalec

Wicked131 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm currently registered as a sole trader since june this year, my turnover so far is 0 (zero) and will stay at this level for the next couple of months.

I'm thinking of buying a car that already is commercially taxed, can I keep paying commercial tax for it?

How does it work if I'll decide to get a car and convert it to commercial?

Am I even eligible for commercial tax?

You don't need a vat number. Plenty of small time sole traders who aren't vat registered have vans. When filling out the forms you put your tax registration no which is just your pps.

Also, forming a limited company to take advantage of expenses when you have a really low turnover? Not sure ...
If you plan on using the van for business, you can claim some of the costs as an expense anyway.

mulbot

rahmalec wrote: »

You don't need a vat number. Plenty of small time sole traders who aren't vat registered have vans. When filling out the forms you put your tax registration no which is just your pps.

Also, forming a limited company to take advantage of expenses when you have a really low turnover? Not sure ...
If you plan on using the van for business, you can claim some of the costs as an expense anyway.

Some county council offices won't accept this on it's own unfortunately

allinthehead

mulbot wrote: »

Some county council offices won't accept this on it's own unfortunately

ya when i was starting out i went to the cork office, and they made me take a form to the gardai to sign in their presence.