Create a Sole Trader Invoice for Procurement Effortlessly

Sole trader invoice for Procurement

one of the most common questions I get asked is  should I set up my business as a limited company   or as a sole Trader on one hand you might think  that a limited company is the best option for you   because it provides protection to your assets  and means you can scale on the other hand you   may believe that a sole Trader is better because  it's far less hassled to set up and it can mean   you pay less in tax making the right decision  can be one of the most important things you can   do when starting out so in this video I'm going  to be talking about the key differences between   both of these structures the advant an ages and  disadvantages of each and at what point you should   consider switching from one to the other if you're  new here I'm Nischa I'm a qualified accountant   and this channel is all about personal finance  Building Wealth and self-development let's get   into it when you first set up a business you need  to choose a structure and the two basic ones to   choose between a soul Trader and a limited company  so what's the difference at the basic level as a   soul Trader you are the business so say you are  a personal trainer you're doing onetoone sessions   with people and they pay you for it this is you  and this is also your business is an extension   of yourself and your personal name represents  your business this means that all your business   dealings invoicing contracts are done under your  personal name one of the advantages of setting up   as a sole Trader business is that the process  is super simple and low cost you just need to   a track your earnings and expenses over the year  and B at the end of the financial year complete   a self assessment tax return quick easy and noow  cost and so it's a very attractive option to start   with in most cases there are however some clear  exceptions where this is absolutely not the way   to go and I'll come to that in the text part of  the video now a limited company is you operating   under a separate legal entity from yourself so  this is you a personal trainer and you set up   a company Pilates limited let's call it minus 10  points for lack of creativity you register your   company with company's house and that company  or the business is very separate from you as   an individual you may own the company so you can  be a director or a shareholder in it and you can   have multiple directors and shareholders in it as  part of the business it's a separate legal entity   to you and the company does all the business so  the invoices the contracts all of that is under   the company name setting up a company has also  become very very quick and very easy to do but   when it comes to the tax returns that's when it  gets more complex you'll need to do a tax return   both for your company and for you personally  and so the extra paperwork and the tax rules   to follow that come with having a company come  with an extra cost and it's a lot more expensive   to do your accounts company than it is as a  soul Trader basis okay so now we've covered   the high level difference between a soul Trader  and a limited company and the difference in the   structures now let's talk about the advantages  and the disadvantages for each of these and when   to use which one before I get into it I want to  give a quick mention to today's sponsor Dropbox   as a business owner managing different aspects of  a business can be overwhelming there are hundreds   of moving parts and things to keep on top of no  matter what industry you're in for me I had to   make sure that the different people in my team  were always aligned regardless of where in the   world they're working from I speak to loads of  Brands I need to make sure that my lawyer has a   latest version of an agreement all the files were  saved in the right place we had so many apps and   systems that we kept switching between then we  came across Dropbox business and business plus   which has simplified the entire process instead of  paying for various subscriptions and tools we just   have Dropbox where we can handle everything in one  centralized location and it's more cost effective   and saves us a lot of time I love the E signatures  capability so being able to prepare send sign   contracts ndas and any other necessary paperwork  from anywhere and my personal favorite Dropbox   capability is replay I can give real time exact  timestamp feedback add markups and leave comments   for my Editor to look at and amend straight away  by centralizing all of our most important tasks   we're no longer wasting time jumping from app to  app if you're looking for an all-in-one solution   to organize your professional life I'd highly  recommend checking it out you can click the link   in the description to learn more about Dropbox  business now onto the tax implications the way   the tax is structured for a soul Trader and a  company can make all the difference in which one   you choose let's use an example of earning 100,000  after all your expenses for a soul Trader this   would be taxed just like income tax because you  are the one getting paid so you get your personal   allowance and you can utilize that assuming  it isn't already used up through any of your   other income sources so the first 12,570 in this  case at the current time is taxfree the amount   you earn above that is taxed at a progressive tax  rate so the amount you earn after 12,570 up until   50270 is taxed at 20% and then the remaining  amount between 5271 and 100,000 is taxed at 40%   I have a video linked over here that goes into  the details of how the progressive tax system   works in more detail but you can also check that  out after this video but bear in mind you also   have to pay ni on this as well for corporation  tax it's structured slightly differently and   you might be thinking how do I get paid well the  company earns money and then it can either pay you   a monthly salary on which you have to pay income  tax and National Insurance so the same rates that   you had in the soul Trader example or you can get  paid via dividends Dividends are the payments the   that have a profit of between 50,000 and 250,000  is 25% minus any marginal relief so to keep this   simple for the calculation and to be conservative  I'm going to keep the main rate at 25% so you'll   be paying 25,000 in corporation tax as you can see  it might make sense to start off as a soul Trader   early on so you can utilize the tax-free income  allowance and the lower income tax brackets but   the tax bracket after a certain threshold very  quickly becomes much higher for a soul Trader   than the highest bracket for a corporation tax so  with that in mind it might make sense to consider   switching because you could save a significant  amount of taxes after a certain rate the other   thing to consider is as a soul Trader you get  some other tax benefits for instance first year   losses can be used to reduce any other tax that  is due that year so you might even get a refund   but at the same time with a limited company you  can write off more things as expenses so you're   lowering your profit and subsequently lowering  the tax that you owe I'm not going to go into   a lot of detail in this video because it's  very case specific but I did want to flag it   as something that is important for you to look at  when you're choosing between the two structures   then let's move on to protection and privacy when  it comes to a soul Trader you your business are   considered the same legally this means that you  are responsible for all of your businesses debt   and liabilities if the business can't pay its  debts your personal assets like your home or   your car can be used to cover the cost and pay  it off in the same way your business name is   not protected either which means that any other  person can trade under the same name as you and   you can't legally prevent them from using it in  their business so this isn't really a big deal   when you're starting out but as you get bigger  and you scale it can be an issue and you want to   avoid you you don't want other customers mixing  your and another business up with each other so   that is something to consider although this is  different to a registered trademark if you want   to register trademark you'll need to apply for  that separately if it's relevant to your business   if you are operating as a company and the company  is the legal entity then you're splitting up your   personal assets and your business assets so if  something happens to your business they can't   then go after your personal assets your car your  home your personal assets they're protected again   there are some exceptions in this case as well for  instance if you have signed a personal guarantee   for a business loan or if you failed to meet  certain direct duties then you as an individual   could still be held personally liable so it's not  a complete clear cut here the drawback however of   a limited company is that it comes with less  privacy if you have a limited company you are   required to file accounts and other relevant  documents with company's house and then once   these documents are filed they become part of the  public record and anyone can access it so everyone   can access or can see how your company's doing  your financial performance details about your   company structure it's all available to the  public and that might not be something that   everyone wants when starting out the final thing  that I'd like to say is that after reaching a   certain level transitioning from a sold Trader to  a limited company becomes less of an option and   more of a necessity because as you grow operating  as a company carries a specific brand image it   generally implies that the business is robust it's  stable it's managed responsibly because there are   specific rules and regulations that have to come  into place when you're operating as a company so   that just gives confidence to customers it gives  confidence to suppliers and potentially investors   as well if you're looking to scale and go down  the funding route later on which you can't do as   a soul Trader so those are some of the key things  to consider when deciding what to set up your   business as and in most cases the soul Trader  way is the way to go when you're starting out   and then you want to transition to a limited  company at the right time if you enjoy this   video you may also enjoy this video on how to pay  less tax and legal loopholes you should be using   whichever structure you're working in even if you  are employed thanks for watching see you there