Company registration

[beadle]

Hello!

I'm a keen photographer and was thinking of setting up a website to sell my images. The thing is I'm not sure if I have to register as a company first in order to do so? Or, if I don't have to would it be a good idea to?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[bill mccallum]

using a limited company is usually a method to limited your liability if things go wrong, but only works if you dont do something negligent or illegal.

it also involves a great deal of form filling for inland revenue, which can take up a lot of your time or cost more in accountancy fees.

unless your clear about why you would want it, then dont do it.

[Spodaz]

Hi,

To sell a few photo's online you certainly do not need to register yourself as a limited company.

You legal status would be a sole trader, however, their are requirements, if you start making an income from the website you need to register your business with the inland revenue (within 3 months of setting up I still think it is)

Also, how do you plan on accepting payments online, do you think you may need a business bank account, are these photo's for download or are you going to post them out etc?

[beadle]

Thanks for your advice, its much appreciated! As I feared I could end up paying out more to be a company than I end up earning through sales!

I will be accepting payment through paypal and posting the prints out to customers. Would I need to be a registered company to have a business account?

Thanks again!

[Spodaz]

You would not need to be a limited company in order to get a business bank account with a bank.

There is no need in theory to have a business bank account, as your paypal can be linked up to any account, it just makes it easier to see what is going in and out.