Jun
21
2011
Incorporating Tax? Your Start-Up Doesn’t Need To
Author: adminIn the past few years there has been a tendency for companies to register themselves as limited companies. This is because the taxation system in Britain appeared to enable small business to pay less in tax than sole traders and small partnerships. However, despite first sight appearances, this was not necessarily the case. There have always been, and there remain to be, a number of economic and practical points to take into consideration when choosing between various business structures.
Theoretically one would opt for the most appropriate structure at the business’ inception. Since there are changes in tax structures and businesses expand, contract, and diversify and then there were the changes mad to the tax system under the government’s 2010 emergency budget which made incorporation even more attractive than it had been previously.
Although, at face value, it’s very attractive, incorporation does have some problems so don’t necessarily assume that it’s either obligatory or strictly beneficial to form a limited company.
There are going to be occasions when your firm make losses as well as profits, it’s naive of any business person to assume that they are always going to return profits every year, initially, what with start up costs et cetera a few losses in the early years are to be expected. If your start-up makes a loss you won’t get tax relief, however, you will be able to carry the losses over into the next financial year so that when you do finally make a profit they won’t all disappear in taxation.
When loses are forecast, being a limited venture is infrequently the best option, as a sole trader or partnership the losses are attributed to the individuals concerned and can be offset against other income, not just from the year in question but on previous years too, within reason.
One of the biggest causes that start-ups don’t make bare profit in the first years is equipment costs. The tax on your equipment and premises can be managed by assessing their depreciation and fixed asset software for sage 200 is available which calculates how much your computers etc are worth as they get older. For larger concerns who are interested in limiting their tax exposure there is also sage 1000 fixed asset software.If you’re using computerised accounting for you business, no matter what size then there isasset software for Sage that will suit your needs.