Business Banking

[adesigner]

Hi guys,

As far as I know I am not legally obliged to have a seperate business bank account if I am a sole-trader.

However, can I receive payments for my business into a personal instant access savings account as opposed to just my current account?

tia,

Andy

 

[Vaheed Akhtar]

Hi guys,

As far as I know I am not legally obliged to have a seperate business bank account if I am a sole-trader.

However, can I receive payments for my business into a personal instant access savings account as opposed to just my current account?

tia,

Andy

Yes you can. The only time banks tend to set up business accounts is if you have any sort of borrowing from them. So as long as you declare your personal account details - transactions, cheques to and from etc - then I can't see it being a problem. The only disadvantages you will have, from where i can see is a) you won't get the same overdraft advantages as a business account - b) you may have issues in the future when doing accounts - if your memory is anything like mine, then you will definitely have problems!

 

[adesigner]

Thanks for the feedback Vaheed.
Yeh, I was going to use the seperate savings account just for business transactions to keep everything seperate from my current account, this way my book-keeping should hopefully be much easier.

 

[YoungMoneyChina]

Sound info.

Out of interest do ltd companies need a business bank account? I always assumed they did?

Thanks

 

[arcon5]

It may not be illegal, but i'm betting it violates the terms of the personal account you hold.

Most banks offer free 12-18 months free business banking anyway.

If operating as a Ltd then you would be better off having a business account, otherwise the accounts could be complicated if your also using the account for personal use.

 

[adesigner]

It may not be illegal, but i'm betting it violates the terms of the personal account you hold.

Most banks offer free 12-18 months free business banking anyway.

If operating as a Ltd then you would be better off having a business account, otherwise the accounts could be complicated if your also using the account for personal use.

Thanks for the advice, as mentioned at the start I will be operating as a sole-trader, but I will check the terms of my personal accounts.

 

[sanjiv]

It may not be illegal, but i'm betting it violates the terms of the personal account you hold.

Most banks offer free 12-18 months free business banking anyway.

If operating as a Ltd then you would be better off having a business account, otherwise the accounts could be complicated if your also using the account for personal use.

A limited company has to have a separate business account. With a sole trader, if you are using a personal account, probably best to keep an account just for use in the business and not one you will personally be using to make it possible to reconcile accounts and keep a better and easier to interpret record of transactions.