Company formation question

[Showgirl4]

Hello all

If you have a ltd company that is all set up with a reg no, bank account and VAT, no can you set up another one underneath it?

So for instance, Widgets ltd sells widgets and is all set up to do so, could you set up Widgets ltd trading as Design UK from it also. They offer seperate services and will be open business running at the same time. Also, if you can do that, is there a way that you could tell HMRC and get seperate returns for it? Might be pushing it slightly here, but want to offer another service without setting up a whole new company and applying for another VAT no.

Anyone?

[shaunrigby87]

Yes that is possible, but i think you have to put on all formal documents such as letterheads etc foobar is a trading name of widgets ltd, company no: blah blah blah

[James Smith]

You can do this, however the far bigger question is whether or not it is appropraite in your circumstances?

This is very much a "speak to your accountant in detail" type question there are several pros and cons of doing this/having both trades in one company/having new company B not owned by company A but you owning it directly/having the other activity as a sole trade or partnership.

The correct answer for you will be entirely dependant on what you are doing and where you plan to go with the busienss, unformalty the second you get into limited companies as opposed to sole trades it gets very complicated and it is important that you take proper advice rather than trying to put this together yourself.

NB I know this sounds like an advert but I earn significantly more money sorting out a bad structure as I do advising on the correct one, which I often do without charge anyway. If you have a good accountant they may well do the same for you.

Regards,

[Showgirl4]

Thanks for the advice guys. James it's alright, I don't think you're selling and I am on the lookout for a new Accountant at the moment so will proably email you about it real soon .

[James Smith]

ok be pleased to have a chat to make sure you are going about things in the right way for your business.

Regards,

[openmind]

RE: looking for an accountant, James is highly recommended. I've dealt with him from day one and he has quite literally saved me thousands of pounds...

With regards to your question showgirl, I have a Limited company and then several sites operating under different names below it so Open Minded Solutions is the LTD and then I have Open Mind Hosting, Open Mind Domains, etc.

On invoices and communications/sites I just make clear that the site is a trading name of my LTD.