Hello, i've been speaking with Business Debtline regarding my company (ltd) closure and when I mentioned the possibility of paying a debt personally they felt this might not be a preferential payment as it uses personal funds rather than company funds.

Can anyone confirm or deny this as they weren't absolutely sure? Thanks!

I need to hide my home address for reasons I'd prefer not to explain, and I was looking at several virtual office companies that seem to offer a virtual address for limited companies. I'm curious about the legality of it. I'm not expecting to get much post, but I don't want my home address on Companies House. Has anyone used a service like this, and do you recommend any services in this niche?

I have been working for a company for about a year in construction as CIS selfemployed and was getting paid regularly 50 hours a week now due to cost of living crisis the company started paying less hours like they call us on the job when we about to start they give some reason that weather is not good or crane is in service etc and are paying very less hours so this is my full time income and bread and butter for my family I am also affected to the cost of living so I went to the manager to discuss the issue he said to me that I am self employed and have zero hour contract with them which is a news to me as I am working long time never heard about this and asked me that if m not happy I should leave I felt humiliation coz I gave my blood and sweat for the company'sprogress any advice on this matter

I am thinking to import good from India my question is do I have to have any special license for it or vat registered company is ok to start the business like I want to import good like containers any advice will be help ful

I have an idea around a competitions/giveaway business that has been floating around my brain for the last 4-5 months or so. I have seen a few successful companies like this that have focused on a specific niche and done really well out of it. The guys over at carpgeargiveaways (.co.uk) especially. By the looks of it they started off really small and have grown massive over the last couple of years.

My idea is centred around football which is obviously a massive industry. Younger people 18-25 especially LOVE football shirts and merchandise especially harder to source shirts. There has been a lot of those mystery shirt box companies springing up also having a great success. I feel like there is a gap in the market appealing to this audience with a chance to win rare shirts, tickets and other football related products.

I understand that there are a lot of rules and regulations around this market and I'm currently doing a little research into this. It would be nice to hear any feedback from you guys to see if there is anything that I'm missing or if you agree that there is a gap in the market for this type of product.

It would also be great to hear from anyone that may be interested in joining me on this journey especially someone that has experience in building websites/apps etc. Tech is not my strongest attribute and it would be a pleasure to have someone to drive this forwards with.

I'm about to confirm my second order on custom made items via alibaba from China to the UK. My first order was last year on FOB terms, so i organised my own shipping via Shippo and paid the VAT and Duty charges through them.

I am now ordering from a different company who are offering DDP terms at a very tempting price (saving me approximately £500 over organising my own freight forwarder and paying their relevant customs charges in China). My seller assures me that all customs, taxes and VAT are included in both countries and the goods will be delivered to my address in the UK. I'm wanting to go ahead with the DDP terms, but want it clearly written in our contract that it covers UK VAT and Duty tax. Any help/advice in what i need to be asking for to make the request absolutely clear?!! Thank you.

I’m currently exploring the possibility of opening a pop-up pizzeria business utilising an exisitng commercial kitchen space within a local Church hall.

The model I’m looking at adopting is that of a virtual restaurant / cloud kitchen, where orders are taken exclusively online and then delivered to the customer - basically a takeaway but without a customer facing premises.

One of the main questions that I am really struggling to find an answer to is how do I legally dispose of the waste that will be produced? The two categories of waste will be cooked food waste (no raw animal products) and mixed dry recycling, such as packaging from ingredients and stock. The waste will be minimal. We will only be producing to order, and plan to make and sell a set number of pizzas per night. Plus, initially we plan to take advantage of the flexibility that using a cloud kitchen on a pay-as-you-go basis offers, and only open for business on weekend evenings until demand picks up as our reputation grows (hopefully).

I understand the hygeine and safety requirements about how to handle and store the waste within the kitchen itself, but it’s what comes after that I need help with. The church hall kitchen has no available existing commercial waste disposal/collection - a stipulation of them allowing the use of the kitchen for the pop up is that we deal with our own waste.

I have already looked into several quotes for commercial waste collection and disposal, however they have minimum collection frequencies of twice monthly, and the smallest containers they offer are 240 litre wheelie bins, as well as having minimum contract terms of 12 months, meaning there really isn’t much flexibility, nor will we be producing enough waste to justify that frequency of collection.

For example, how do mobile caterers, or businesses operating out of mobile catering vans deal with the commercial waste that their food businesses generate? As far as I’m aware you’re not allowed to dispose of the waste in your domestic food bins, and as of now I can’t find any info on where I can legally take the waste myself to dispose of.

Any help/advice from any experienced food business owners would be hugely appreciated. I’ve spent days trying to find the answers to these questions with little success.

I'm looking at a pub which is grade II listed and closed due to COVID.

Leasehold is £150k and annual rent £50k.

I've never run premises based business before but have the capital to invest, just wondering if £50k rent is what other pub owners would expect to pay?

Other revenue streams include overnight lodgings, so the £4k a month rent sounds reasonable, turnover will likely be from the lodgings, bevvy sales etc.

What other costs are associated generally with premises based business rental?

Hello, I'm in the early stages of setting up a dog treat business. I've contacted my local trading standards and I'm wanting them to come inspect my home kitchen.

What can I expect from an inspection? And what will enable me to pass the inspection?

I have a pet dog, he sleeps in the living room and an open plan kitchen/ dining room. The door for the back yard is through the kitchen. I have smooth tiled floor, wooden worktops, one double door fridge freezer, an electric oven and hob, one sink and a dishwasher.

I plan to have a seperate area in my fridge for my fresh produce and a seperste cupboard for my dry ingredients and equipment.

Will it help if I get a stainless steel worktop protector since my worktops are wood? And I know owning a dog will be an issue but has anyone else been through the same thing and how did you overcome it?

Hello mates,
I would appreciate your thoughts on my start up idea. The solution in focus caters to early stage start ups and is going to be attractive to investors, too.

It helps founders get feedback on their idea (ironically, the exact same thing I'm doing right now here) and ease their access to investors' radar. It is based on gamification, reputation system and competition for pitch opportunity.

Technically, the solution offers these:
> sign up and join a chat roullette to challenge your idea. At first, feedback is provided by curated experts. As the sommunity grows, founders evolve and earn reputation. Eventually, chat roullette is a peer-to-peer mechanic.
> create your startup profile to boost your credibility. Investors see your profile and leaderboards.
> grow your network and knowledge. You can use voice channels on specific topics to discuss different ideas.

For investors the platform provides pool of startups, analytical tools and enhanced proof of performance of early stage ideas.

The corner stone of the solution is gamification. The better you perform at expert and peer-to-peer assessment, the higher you chance is to win the prize - elevator pitch opportunity.

First off, I'm sorry if this should be in the "General" section instead of "Legal"!

As it's about sharing a redacted screenshot of customer communications, I thought it might be best to get advice from this section.

We (Ltd company) have received a negative review from a customer (Ltd company). The director used their personal Google account to leave the review.
All communication with them was via their work email address.

It relates to a bespoke product order from 2022 where the customer sent us the wrong file and also didn't read the product description properly!
The customer confirmed everything was correct via email. After email confirmation, we send a document for online signature. The customer has to initial specifications and sign off as correct. We only start production once the document has been signed as correct.

The customer was very disgruntled about the situation and continues to blame us.

After about 4 months, they decided to leave a negative review full of statements which were not true.

We emailed the customer asking them to remove the untruthful information. They've revised it stating we've bullied them into it but still left in quite a few of their "most damaging" untrue statements, including a section which states we do not send anything to them before starting production.

I'm considering adding a further public reply to their review with a redacted screenshot (covering their email and any PII).
The screenshot proves what they have refused to remove from their review is untrue.

I wouldn't normally follow up after our initial response. However, some potential customers are contacting us for clarification as a result of seeing this review which is one of the first things they see when they search our company name and the product.
Since the review, we've also seen a drop in sales for this product which sells well all year round. Perhaps it's just a coincidence!

Any advice regarding the legality of us posting a redacted thread of an email between us and another business customer would be very much appreciated!

Hi

I am starting a business overseas (outside european union), I am a UK citizen and I will be sending some of my profits back to my uk bank account.

Because I am in a lucrative business, should i contact my uk bank and let them know where my money will be coming from? My company is registered overseas, should I register in the uk too?

I dont really trust local banks where I am and for some transactions i need to make, some of the institutions i deal with want me to make it from a business account...should i create a business account in the uk too with my company name?

Thanks

One of the benefits of running your own business is that you don’t have to pay tax until after the end of your financial year.

But what would happen if you’d put aside some of your tax money into a savings account with a bank they went bust?

Would HMRC wait until you’ve recovered your funds (which could take years)?

Or would they still demand the tax when it’s due?

Hello, I co-own a company (company 1) which manufactures a product, sells it and also installs it. There’s 4 x directors of company 1 who are my wife & I (52.5% shareholders combined) and two others (47.5% shareholders) who are also married. We created another company (company 2) which all four of us are equal shareholders and both wives are directors there.

Company 1 has given company 2 permission to manufacture and sell the product that company 1 designed/manufactured/sold originally in view of possibly selling company 2 in the future with all rights to the designs of the product. Company 1 could then either be sold with company 2 or could continue trading by installing a different product (in construction industry).

There’s differences of opinions between my wife & I and the other partners. The question would be can we use our 52.5% share of company 1 to officially stop with immediate effect the permission of company 2 to be able to use the designs of company 1?

Thank you in advance for any guidance.

Tenants are on a Small Business retail lease and are now periodic. They are many months in debt and pay the odd payment when pushed to. We are wanting to end their lease and then take them to court for the rent arrears. There is much confusion about what to notices to serve when it is a retail lease. Is a retail lease same as a commercial lease in this scenerio? Theres so much advise if they were residential tenants but no advise for the business tenants!! Does anyone have any knowledge on this please?

I'm currently launching a brand, which is being run through my exisiting business (in a completley different market). I've created a name - let's says HOUSE FUN - obtained the .co.uk domain and got all the social handles for HOUSE FUN.

However, I've just discovered that there's a company with a registered trademark for HOUSEFUN, which they use on some of their products. Whilst the products are similar, they are used within a different market.

Where do I stand legally? Am I able to still proceed using the HOUSE FUN name? I can see from the register on the Intellectual Property Office website that the trademark is registered with two particular classes. Will I remain legally OK, if I don't operate within those classe?

Any help will be much appreciated.

Are UK LTD co's (a for profit company) able to use Gift Aid when they donate money to charity ?

Could someone kindly explain the process of writing off stock inventory and how it ties back with the balance sheet.

For example, if we have products that have not sold for 6,12 months etc. Let's say £50,000 - does this become an expense for the particular financial year?

Finally, what happens after the 'write off' if some of this stock is subsequently sold?



Thanks

Hello, I'm looking for some help please. I need to get Public Liability Insurance for a board game which is being launched in April. The game is 85% cardboard, for aged 7 years upwards and doesnt have small pieces. It is made in China. The Insurance Company I have spoken will only insure me if I have a Rights to Recourse Contact with the manufacturers.

Please can someone help me with where I can get such a contract to send to my manufacturers? Is there a standard template for this type of thing?

Thank you for any help you can give me.

Kind regards Catherine

Can anyone recommend a company that offers accounts to limited companies for investing in funds and shares?

My company has some money sitting around which I'd like to gamble on the stock market but there doesn't seem many options out there. I already use Hargreaves Lansdown for investing my personal money and whilst they are good, they are an expensive platform plus I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

ii offer company accounts but they charge £30 per month for the same product they sell to individuals for £9.99 a month which grates a little.

Hi. Right now i'm starting a business. Initially from day 1 there will be one brand, from year 2 I plan to create another brand leveraging off of the same (or very similar) product, same manufacturing plant but with different branding / website / target market etc... From day 1 (i.e. now) what is the best way to go about forming the structure of the different brands (businesses) in terms of accounting? Is it one company with the registered brands all under it? Or each brand as a seperate legal entitity? Or one holding company with different entities under it?

Thanks for your advice in advance, Aaron.

Hi all,

I've recently started an online store on Ebay to start selling some of my personal belongings. I just have some questions about I account for this as its not officially registered. I plan on registering as soon as things pick up.

I'm using quickbooks to track my income and expenses. Despite not be registered as a Sole Trader officially I want to still ensure that I've accounted everything correctly.

1. As I'm selling my personal items, would I still need to sell the items to my "business"? Or can I continue to sell whatever until I have to register?

2. I have a separate bank account to separate this from my personal account, if I was to transfer money to my "business" account would I still use capital introduced despite not be registered?

I just want to make sure that my accounts are correct for when and if I register with HMRC.

Thanks I'm advance.

Hi I have started a competition page , raffling off tickets for cash prizes , cars, holidays etc. I am struggling to get a business bank account . My company does not apply under the gambling act as before you can buy a ticket you have to answer a question first . I do not need a gambling licence but just wondering what I should label the company as on my bank account application as banks don’t like the sound of competition company’s. Based in Northern Ireland

As a sole trader with one business, can you have 2 trading names?

eg. I ran a life coaching business offering life coaching with the business name Inspirational Life Coaching. If I wrote a book and self-published it could this part of my business be called Inspirational Publishing? Would I have to have 2 businesses? If not do I have to have 2 sets of accounts or one?