STANDARD
£46.99 +VAT
- HMRC Registration
- Companies House £50.00 Registration Fee
PREMIUM
£124.99 +VAT
- HMRC Registration
- Companies House £50.00 Registration Fee
- VAT Registration with HMRC
- Keep Your Home Address Private
- Your Official Company Documents
Becoming a Sole Trader is as easy as 1 | 2 | 3
1. Select one of our sole trader package
You have the option to conduct business using your personal name or utilize our name reservation service to officially register your business name with Companies House while operating as a sole trader (for additional details, please refer to our FAQ section).
2. Complete a simple form in 5 min
After your payment is successfully processed, you'll be guided to complete our brief, entirely online application. We'll handle the submission of your application to both HMRC and Companies House (if you've chosen the name reservation service).
3. Receive your Unique Tax Reference at home
Your UTR (Unique Taxpayer Reference) validates your status as a sole trader who has commenced trading. This code is confidential and can only be delivered to you by HMRC through postal mail.
Frequently Asked Questions
As a sole trader, you operate your business independently and are considered self-employed. You have the freedom to retain all of your business profits after taxation. However, you are personally accountable for any losses your business may incur.
Certainly! Just ensure that you complete your registration within three months of commencing your business operations.
To operate your business effectively, it’s essential to:
– Maintain thorough records of your business’s income and expenses.
– Submit an annual Self Assessment tax return.
– Fulfill your tax obligations by paying Income Tax on your business profits, along with Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance contributions.
– If you are relocating to the UK for business purposes, you must apply for a National Insurance number.
You’ll need to supply information such as:
– National Insurance (NI) number
– Name
– Date of birth
– Postal address
– Name of business
– What type of work you do
– Start date
The processing time for applications to register as self-employed with HMRC depends on your chosen package, ranging from 1 to 7 business days. After you’ve filled out our simplified online registration form, your application will be forwarded to HMRC for assessment. HMRC will subsequently issue your Unique Tax Reference (UTR), a confidential number sent exclusively via postal mail by HMRC. Typically, it takes HMRC around 6 weeks to dispatch the UTR. However, you can begin trading before receiving your UTR, provided you complete your registration within 3 months of initiating your business activities.
As a sole trader, you have the option to operate under your personal name or choose a business name. However, if you opt for a business name, it must be unique and not already in use by another business. This ensures that your business identity is safeguarded.
For instance, let’s say you decide to name your business “Myfirstbusiness,” and it becomes well-known in its industry. However, a year later, someone else registers the same name at Companies House. Legally, this individual could compel you to cease trading under the name “Myfirstbusiness.”
To prevent such situations, we offer the service of registering a dormant limited company under a name of your choice, provided it’s available for registration at Companies House. A dormant company is one that is not actively engaged in business operations (classified under SIC code 99999). This limited company is established solely to protect your chosen business name from being used by others. You will still operate as a sole trader and maintain the ability to trade as such. In this setup, you will serve as the director of the dormant company, effectively securing the name as yours.
