Business/Yard/Stud Owners/Equestrian Shops etc

seeingdouble

seeingdouble

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I am hoping you can offer me some help/advice if you own your own business.
I am wanting to create a new venture, basically, I am possibly taking over an existing livery yard, but also want to incorporate a stud and online equestrian shop.
Can anyone offer any advice in the respect of....
Accounts – do as one lot under 1 venture or as 3 separate businesses?
Pay myself a small wage or take larger dividends etc?
Tax/NI etc – try and do it myself or pay an umbrella company – any experience of such companies?
Also, does anyone know how being self employed etc can effect tax credits etc (am hoping i could possibly get the help with childcare if i undertake this venture but never claimed before so not sure of the exact process etc), i know they work a year behind so not sure how that works with new start ups etc?
Should i try and keep everything the same with the yard (ie the same account etc and then get him to deal with it all?)

Any advice would be gratefully received, however, just to clear things up now as i already expect certain replies.... i already know the running of the yard etc and have managed it all single handed so know what i am getting into :D also, there is no issue with raising finance or gaining suppliers as i already have this sorted, so really i am after more practical advice re the paperwork etc!

Thanks in advance :D
 
Are you thinking Limited Company? or just self employed?
Basically, just get yourself a decent accountant and don't bother with umbrella companies etc.
Tax credits are dependant on income regardless of being employed or self employed.
 
would suggest going limited company rather than sole trader otherwise you'll be 'personally' liable for everything if it all goes wrong, or taxman comes knocking... need a good accountant :)

good luck!
 
At the moment the yard owner operates as self employed..... but as i plan to do 3 avenues as such (livery, stud and online shop) i am not sure if i would be best being self employed or a limited company etc for the 3 under 1 business.

If i take a weekly wage, i am not totally knowledgable about how you work out the tax and NI contributions etc but i am sure there is software to help with that sort of thing. I know when we looked at employing a nanny, the umbrella companies were actually reasonably priced for what they offered.

really i need to go and talk to someone at business link etc but i was and am hoping there may be someone else on here who may have such a business who can advise if they feel its the best way to go about it etc.

:)
 
It all sounds very exciting!

I can't answer many of your questions but my absolute best advice is to make an appointment with a good accountant to get some expert advice on how best to set it all up. I'm involved with running 2 companies and they are separate, but that's because they do very different, unrelated things and couldn't be combined

Re paying yourself, again the accountant can advise how to do it in the most tax efficient way, but a mix of the 2 works well for us. Under PAYE you get an annual tax free allowance (which has just gone up) so you would want to use that up at the very least.

The inland revenue run free workshops on how PAYE works and how to do it yourself. I learnt that way and so save money because I'm not paying someone else to do it. You can find out about local workshops by ringing the HMRC new employer helpline.

Dividents can only be paid out of profits. It can, therefore, be difficult to pay interim dividends unless you are very sure what profits you are going to make. We pay a dividend only when the year has finished so we know exactly what profits we have (or haven't) made. Dividends do have relatively low tax

But in all truth I'd be booking an appointment with your accountant to talk it all through!
 
ooo - really?
I dont have a set date for the yard take over as the YO is leaving it up to me about when i am ready but ideally it's to be soon as with the fees she pays to her accountant, the more work he has to do for the next tax year etc will mean increased costs for her.

With Business Link - can you just turn up for advice as there doesnt seem to be much about it on the site but it gives a map to their office - or do you have to book an appointment etc in advance?
 
seeingdouble said:
At the moment the yard owner operates as self employed..... but as i plan to do 3 avenues as such (livery, stud and online shop) i am not sure if i would be best being self employed or a limited company etc for the 3 under 1 business.

If i take a weekly wage, i am not totally knowledgable about how you work out the tax and NI contributions etc but i am sure there is software to help with that sort of thing. I know when we looked at employing a nanny, the umbrella companies were actually reasonably priced for what they offered.

really i need to go and talk to someone at business link etc but i was and am hoping there may be someone else on here who may have such a business who can advise if they feel its the best way to go about it etc.

:)
Click to expand...

If you are self employed, you don't pay tax on your 'weekly wage', you pay it on your profit at the end of the year. National Insurance is fixed at £2 something per week.
If you go Ltd, for VAT purposes your businesses will be combined anyway, so there is no point splitting them.

Honestly, just go to an accountant as you are complicating it more than necessary for yourself ;)
 
Just to add, I was assuming your were going with a Ltd Company when answering... If not ignore 99.9% of what I said!
 
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