Company trading name help, ltd/sole trader

[Tidy Max]

Hi everyone,

just a quick question after google has yielded no clear answer for me.

I have registered a ltd company trading name, since doing so ive done alot of research and decided that i am clearly better starting off sole trading.

How do i buy/reserve the name i want to trade under? Or how does a 'trading name' work? Would i be better off trading as the ltd company and invoicing the company for my work as a sole trader (technically this would be legal as i will most likely sub contract to a couple of local companies)

Sorry for the trivial question and thanks in advance for the replies.

Max

 

[High Tower]

You cannot invoice your own ltd company as a subbie because you are a director of that company. You may leave your ltd company dormant but you will still have to file all of your accounts on the deadline, al be it as nil value.

To be a sole trader, pick a name of choice, register for CIS and off you go.

Simples!

 

[Tidy Max]

Thanks for the quick reply high tower.

Ive had some correspondance of hrmc saying that i just need to inform them when i start trading. May i ask why you dont have to register a company name then?

I have already designed logos etc to do with my ltc company name then when i realised i should start (and probably stay lol) as a sole trader i had a little panic thinking the name i want to use may already be in use?

 

[High Tower]

Names only have to be registered when they are limited, a sole trader can call themselves anything as in the eyes of the law a sole trader is a person not a company so you can trade as any name you like. The down sore is some one can set up as another sole trader, around the corner and legally you can do nothing about it

 

[Tidy Max]

Tell me about it, my new trading name is,

NICEIC CONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR

that was joke by the way. Cheers for the advice you have cleared things up for me

 

[High Tower]

My pleasure!

 

[Octopus]

As a sole trader you are "Joe Bloggs trading as JB Electrical Services"

Get a business account too.

 

[MDJ]

I would recommend you get a bank account in the name of your company and keep everything seperate from your personal account as well,whether limited or a proprietor don't mix money and that will be a good start, just my view.

Mike

 

[Tidy Max]

Cheers, Natwest are offering first two years free with a current business account. I started to apply online today however some of the required fields were when the company started trading, and when it was formed, both of which havnt technically happened yet....So i thought it best to go in a branch as soon as ivget time and start one the old fashioned way.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Octopus]

Cheers, Natwest are offering first two years free with a current business account. I started to apply online today however some of the required fields were when the company started trading, and when it was formed, both of which havnt technically happened yet....So i thought it best to go in a branch as soon as ivget time and start one the old fashioned way.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

If you've got time, go and have a chat with the bank before you need an account. They will be able to help you prepare.