Description of business

[Deleted member 304182]

Say I am I run a own a business as a sole trader, and I want to trade under my own name doing a variety of things. I want to develop websites, sell courses, and all other stuff. Maybe I even decided to do landscaping every now and again, within that business. What would I put as the nature (or description) of my business to HMRC? And also, say I own a digital marketing agency and the business ends up going into software development (for example), do I need to make HMRC aware of the fact I am doing different things?

Also, why is that when I register a sole trader business or a business partnership I have to submit a business name if it is not registered anywhere? What is the reason for this? Say I have already registered for self-assessment with one business and given a name, how come if I start a second business as a sole trader I don't have to submit the name for that business anywhere?

Thank you.

 

[Deleted member 304182]

Does anyone think they can help me with this?

 

[Scalloway]

The nature (or description) of your business is of interest to HMRC because they can compare the results of many businesses in the same line to see if any are outwith the normal range of income and expenditure.

So if you are developing software your main cost will be your time, followed by office costs. A landscape gardener will have purchases for plants, vehicle costs for getting to customers etc.

HMRC find business names helpful in checking who you are but once you are in the system they assume you are doing things correctly.

 

[Deleted member 304182]

The nature (or description) of your business is of interest to HMRC because they can compare the results of many businesses in the same line to see if any are outwith the normal range of income and expenditure.

So if you are developing software your main cost will be your time, followed by office costs. A landscape gardener will have purchases for plants, vehicle costs for getting to customers etc.

HMRC find business names helpful in checking who you are but once you are in the system they assume you are doing things correctly.

Thanks for the info. What I meant about doing multiple trades under one business, eg selling online courses, landscaping, website development all under a business name Ben Lockley, what would I write for a description of that business to HMRC? Also say I started doing different trades for the business, how would I change the description of the business? Would I need to notify HMRC?

Thank you!

 

[Scalloway]

As a sole trader you and the business are the same. If you decide to carry on a new trade all you need to do is complete a separate self employment page for each trade.

 

[Deleted member 304182]

As a sole trader you and the business are the same. If you decide to carry on a new trade all you need to do is complete a separate self employment page for each trade.

But say I start a brand new business and register it. I call my business General management 101 for example, and under that I do all the things I listed above. How would I describe that business to HMRC, with it all being as one business, rather than a separate business for each trade? Even for example if I started a company doing all of these trades, what could I put as the description or nature of business? I'm trying to explain myself as best as I can but I'm not sure I'm doing that well at it.

 

[Scalloway]

You can have three sets of self employment pages for developing websites, selling courses, and landscaping. Or you can just describe yourself as an odd job man. For a one man business that doesn't employ staff I don't think HMRC are going to be too bothered. It is not a trick question, it just gives HMRC a flavour of what the business is about.

 

[Mr D]

Thanks for the info. What I meant about doing multiple trades under one business, eg selling online courses, landscaping, website development all under a business name Ben Lockley, what would I write for a description of that business to HMRC? Also say I started doing different trades for the business, how would I change the description of the business? Would I need to notify HMRC?

Thank you!

Moving away from HMRC for a moment, its usually a good idea to concentrate efforts on one thing at a time. Get one up and running smoothly before taking on the same headache getting next one up and running. Nothing wrong with running all 3 but your focus may at times be needed on more than one.

 

[Deleted member 304182]

You can have three sets of self employment pages for developing websites, selling courses, and landscaping. Or you can just describe yourself as an odd job man. For a one man business that doesn't employ staff I don't think HMRC are going to be too bothered. It is not a trick question, it just gives HMRC a flavour of what the business is about.

Thank you!

Moving away from HMRC for a moment, its usually a good idea to concentrate efforts on one thing at a time. Get one up and running smoothly before taking on the same headache getting next one up and running. Nothing wrong with running all 3 but your focus may at times be needed on more than one.

Yes I can understand what you're saying. I don't actually have any intentions of doing any of those trades at the moment, I'm just simply trying to understand how the whole business registration process works etc and get a better understanding of the different kinds of business structures as I recently set up a business partnership.