For entrepreneurs

Nothing beats a weekly or monthly wage. You can wave goodbye to that if you decide to set up your own business. However, as students of Adam Smith will know, there exists among humans the propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another. In other words, people like doing business with one another, they enjoy the contact that it brings, the networking, if you like.

https://www.adamsmith.org/the-wealth-of-nations/

But, make no mistake, if you are in business on your own account while you are doing well, everyone will want to know you: as soon as you run into difficulties, you are on your own. That is where Nicholas Ridge CTA can help, by offering disinterested, expert advice.

The formalities to set up a business are not complicated, although there will often be registrations specific to your chosen trade or profession, eg as architect or restauranteur. You need to register with the tax authorities and obtain a unique tax reference – UTR, generally online, and start to pay your National Insurance. You will need to consider whether your turnover will be over the VAT threshold, or in some cases whether early VAT registration is beneficial, eg if what you sell will be zero rated for VAT. You may need to think about setting up as a limited company, where different rules apply. If you want to employ people you will need to set up and operate a PAYE scheme too. You will need to do that if you set the business up through a limited company and want to be paid a salary by your company as a director for instance.

The tax system generally supports enterprise. That is because businesses create jobs, and the system acknowledges the risks at stake to the entrepreneur and wants him or her to keep their fair share of the rewards.

Other things to think about are:- what books & records will the business need to maintain; will they be computerised; what system is the best to choose.

If you are a budding entrepreneur, Nicholas Ridge CTA can guide you through all of these issues and help to set up your business.

Nicholas Ridge operates as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser under his own name, Nicholas Ridge CTA, in the Meon Valley in Hampshire.

For many years, Nicholas and Elizabeth Ridge Chartered Accountants and Chartered Tax Advisers ran a successful high street practice in West London. Their client base included individuals and businesses, and specialisms involved personal and business tax; not-for profit businesses; artists and professionals; and business start-ups

Their partnership merged with PK Group in 2013, at which point they moved to Hampshire