Best form of company

[IMEX Sourcing Services]

Hi,

One of my cousins is planning to import some clothes from India to be sold here and he wanted to register a business here. I would like to have some advice on what would be the best form of business for him to regsiter (like, co., sole proprietorship, etc.) and what the the benifits and disadvanatges of each? To begin with, he will do some retailing but his main aim is wholesale?

His concern with registering a co. is the overheads involved like maintaing books, etc. which he assumes would be too expensive. Any ideas would help.

Regards
ash

[fastfences]

Hi On Way etc,

All of the good info is withinn this posting:
http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=5123

Perhaps in the initial stages he may be best to operate as a 'sole trader' to 'test the waters'.
Cheers, Nigel

[Joyous]

His concern with registering a co. is the overheads involved like maintaing books, etc. which he assumes would be too expensive. Any ideas would help.



The requirement for maintaining a decet set of books applies to sole traders and partnerships as well as limited companies. How will he know what to put on his tax return if he doesn't know how much he's earned?

From other importers I've come into contact with, businesses in Asia and the Far East seem to prefer dealing with limited companies. Presumably there's a perception of reliability and respectability.

As Fast Fences says the various other pros and cons have been covered in previous postings.

Regards

Joy

[IMEX Sourcing Services]

Thanks Joy,

I realised that even Sole Traders need to maintain certain accounts, although from what I have been able to gather so far, its far less complicated as compared to Companies.

Some details on what sort of accounts will a Sole Trader Need to maintail would be of great help.

Ash

[Joyous]

The books that should be kept for a limited company are essentially the same as those for a sole trader. The only real difference is that where a limited company has share capital, a sole trader will have proprietors capital/capital introduced.

A difference also arises with the preparation of year end accounts. Limited companies have to produce a profit and loss account and balance sheet in Companies Act format as well notes to the accounts, a director's report and an auditor's report where required. A sole trader only needs to produce a profit and loss account and balance sheet to support his tax return.

In terms of the specific bookkeeping however the accounts are exactly the same regardless of the legal format. The complexity of the books is dependent of the size and complexity of the business rather than whether it's a limited company or not.

Hope this is of help.

Regards

Joy