Ownership of domain - personal v ltd company

[downsouth]

I have a domain in the final stages of being purchased that relates very closely to the online business I run, should I register this domain in the LTD company name or in my personal name?

If Ltd this would then become an asset of the company but how does this come off when I monitize the site? adwords revenue etc?

Is registering it to the business the best option?

I'm tempted to own it personally but i'd like some thoughts on best approach

 

[MartBrooks]

I would register it in the business name then those looking at the WHOIS record will see consistent data. It may also help you if at any point you need to get an SSL certificate for the domain.

The WHOIS information will make no difference whatsoever to popular website indexers.

 

[wdltd]

Interesting question...

I bought the domain name for my company on the secondary market, and decided that as I paid for it personally, I'd keep it my own name. It could potentially be a valuable asset one day, and because you never know what the future holds, it made sense to me to keep it and the business separate.

Anyone who looks at our website can see that I'm the MD, so if they WHOIS the domain, there shouldn't be any confusion.

The only potential problem I can see with this approach will come if I ever decide to sell the company. I'll cross that bridge when / if I need to.

Because the domain name is the same as my limited company name, I was also eligible to register websitedesign.ltd.uk - this belongs to the company - and would provide some continuity to the business in the future.

 

[See Web Solutions]

Register is in the company name as it looks more professional but do remember to transfer the name into your own if the business is going bust which hopefully it wont or you could lose it.

With regards to your expenditure domain names are normally treated as a simple expense and are rarely capitalised.

 

[abpni-computer-solutions]

I woudn't worry too much about who's name is on the domain registration. Regarding Google's adwords, they don't really mind who's name is on the domain, as long as it's obvious that you're running a proper business, and of course that they get paid.

It may make more sense to put it in the company's name, as this will tie it to the business and will be eligable for claiming against tax. Also as mentioned previously, some SSL cert issuers may look at whois records so this may be important. However if you wish to capitalise on the domain as a sole trader, then of course you will need to keep it your property, however I'm not sure about "director duties" regarding this (maybe conflict of interest?) - I'm sure some accountants here could answer that.

Regarding the technical aspects - DNS doesn't care if the whois records are empty, so you're ok there