When you're self-employed, you have unique financial obligations-especially when it comes to paying your taxes.
When you work for a larger corporation, or even a relatively small business, your company takes on a large percentage of handling your tax responsibilities for you.
As a freelancer or small business owner, you're on your own. You work as an independent contractor for each of the clients you work for-and they don't take taxes out of your check before they send it to you.
How then should you handle the responsibility of paying your taxes?
This guide will help you get started:
The advantages of operating as a limited company are well known. It can be a great way to maximise your take-home pay, improve your credibility with customers and limit your personal liability. Like most things in life, it's a case of what's best for your situation. While the positives outweigh the negatives for most people, there are a few things you should know before you make the jump to a limited company.
In this article, we'll outline the disadvantages of operating as a private limited company. Bear in mind that there are many advantages to a limited company and in many cases, these advantages will outweigh the disadvantages, so don't think of this as a report of doom and gloom.
There is no clear cut time as to when you should start working through your own limited company. With other routes available-such as operating as a sole trader, or working through an umbrella company-it is always worth weighing up what is best for you and your circumstances.
With that being said, if you plan to work as an independent contractor for the foreseeable future, opening your own limited company at the early stages can maximise your opportunities for reaping the benefits of having your own company straight away.
There are a couple of ways to go about registering a limited company:
We've included further details in our guide on setting up a limited company.
There is no clear cut time as to when you should start working through your own limited company. With other routes available-such as operating as a sole trader, or working through an umbrella company-it is always worth weighing up what is best for you and your circumstances.
With that being said, if you plan to work as an independent contractor for the foreseeable future, opening your own limited company at the early stages can maximise your opportunities for reaping the benefits of having your own company straight away.
While there isn't a legal or formal definition of the term, personal service companies (PSC) refer to limited companies that are owned by a contractor, who is also the only shareholder and sole director. In some instances, the company may also be owned by a very small group of individuals.
To register a business as a sole trader, you need to:
Once you've registered, you need to fulfil your responsibilities as a sole trader. These include:
To set up a limited company, you need to:
To set up a business partnership, you need to:
As a freelancer, contractor, or small business, it is typical to start with the simple structure of operating as a Sole Trader.
While taxes and other administrative work may be relatively easy when you are a Sole Trader, as your volume of business goes up, there are more and more reasons to take on the task of becoming a Limited Company.
For instance:
Luckily, running a Limited Company doesn't have to be exceedingly complex, though following a set plan will help to keep the complexity to a minimum.
From starting your side business to going freelance full-time, becoming self-employed can feel scary and exciting all at once.
Before you jump right in, you need to ensure that you're staying on the right side of the law- and this begins with registering as self-employed with HMRC.
In doing so, you can be sure that you're paying the right amount of income tax and National Insurance Contributions, and thereby avoid paying unnecessary financial penalties.
Ready to get started? We've got all the information you need below:
7 Advantages of Being a Sole Trader
7 Characteristics For Defining Sole Traders
The drawbacks to setting up a limited company include:
In the UK, the majority of self-employed people operate as sole traders. While there are many advantages to being a sole trader, you could take home more money and give your business a professional edge by setting up as a limited company.
In this article, we'll look at the advantages of operating as a private limited company to see how it could benefit you. If you're interested in seeing whether a limited company could be a good option for your business, check out our Business Structure guide. If you're already operating as a sole trader, making the jump to a limited company is more straight forward than you think.
Who can turn their nose up at the prospect of increased take-home pay? Well, that's the principle benefit of setting up a limited company and one of the main factors that drive people to switch from a sole trader.
As a director of a limited company, the way you pay tax is different from how you pay as a sole trader. As a sole trader, you'll pay 20% or more on everything you earn over the tax threshold. As a limited company, you typically pay yourself a small salary so you incur as little personal tax as possible. The majority of your income will come in the form of dividends that are taxed at a much smaller rate, meaning you're able to maximise your take-home pay.
As well as the tax benefits, paying the majority of your income through dividends means that you're able to pay less National Insurance Contributions (NICs) as these do not apply to dividend payments.
Example - Here's a quick comparison of the difference in take-home pay for a sole trader and a limited company.
As you can see, you save £965.64 as a limited company. What's not to like?
The advantages to setting up a limited company are:
When you set up a limited company, you'll enjoy many advantages you don't get as a sole trader. Not only is it a tax-efficient way to run your business, it's also a great way to limit your personal liability and increase your credibility with customers. Additionally, it could open new avenues of work that wouldn't be open to you if you were operating as a sole trader, especially some contractor roles.
One of the disadvantages of running a limited company is that it involves a lot of paperwork, but with the help of this guide, we'll clear away the jargon and tell you exactly what you need.
If you're unsure about whether a limited company is right for you, check out our handy article comparing the differences between Limited companies and Sole Traders to see which business entity is right for you.
If you've got more important things to do than dealing with extra admin, you can always take advantage of one of our accountancy packages and we'll do all the forms and applications for you.
To set up a limited company, you need to take the following steps:
Book a free 30 minute call with an accountant. We'll help walk through setting up your business, switching accountant or any of your tax queries. All our accounting packages come with a free 30 day trial.
