trading as advice / help needed !

[squidgey]

hi all

My husband and i have two small businesses that arent earning much so we have decided to expand our horizons and start doing house clearances trouble is we're not sure how to set it up ?

Our first business is a gardening business
2nd business is selling 2nd hand items on ebay and the like

third business will be house clearances

this i feel could be a "trading as name" for either the gardening business or 2nd hand selling business so im not sure what to do ?

both the existing business's are reg. at inland rev and have tax ref. numbers .

The house clearances could be included in with the gardening business but the items would be sold through the other business (if that makes sense)
so im really confused as to what to do .

Ive tried ringing the inland rev but i'm poo at explaining things so they couldn't really advise me

any help very very appreciated

Lisa

 

[Strath]

Hi, just read your message, not really sure what you are asking?

Are you saying can company C(Clearance) work for company A(Garden) and sell items through company B(Ebay)? If so, yes. Company C can trade as Company A(Garden) t/a Company C(Clearance), if items are sold through company B, this is fine however you will need to declare the transactions to your accountant so he can deal with them correctly.

 

[bwglaw]

There is no mention of whether the business is incorporated. Makes little difference other than the disclosure rules. I say this because many businesses use 'company' rather loosely and it does give a misleading effect.

If you are sole traders or unincorporated partnership then you can use the following trading style:

Fred Bloggs t/as Blogg House Clearances, Fred Bloggs t/as Blogg Garden Maintenance, etc

If you are incorporated then it will be:

ABC Ltd t/as Blogg House Clearances, ABC Ltd t/as Blogg Garden Maintenance, etc

Whichever you opt for, you are legally required to state all trading styles/names on your letterheads, invoices and other official documents.

How the contractual arrangements will work will depend on the status of the business(es)

 

[Antonia @limeone.com]

In addition to branching out to adopt a third business model also look at the markets for your existing businesses. With all new businesses comes some expense so it may make better sense to just add in the house clearance side to the Ebay second hand business. Happy to advise further if you need more assistance.

 

[Matt1959]

There is no mention of whether the business is incorporated. Makes little difference other than the disclosure rules. I say this because many businesses use 'company' rather loosely and it does give a misleading effect.

If you are sole traders or unincorporated partnership then you can use the following trading style:

Fred Bloggs t/as Blogg House Clearances, Fred Bloggs t/as Blogg Garden Maintenance, etc

If you are incorporated then it will be:

ABC Ltd t/as Blogg House Clearances, ABC Ltd t/as Blogg Garden Maintenance, etc

Whichever you opt for, you are legally required to state all trading styles/names on your letterheads, invoices and other official documents.

How the contractual arrangements will work will depend on the status of the business(es)

If someone is trading as above (not the LTD versions) do you need seperate public Liability insurance for each operation? Or does Fred Bloggs take out a kind of blanket PL insurance to cover all his T/A businesses? I'm guessing this is a no brainer and each operation carries a different risk so seperate policies ,but just double checking.

 

[Antonia @limeone.com]

Depends on the type of businesses you are doing. If the types of business are broadly similar ie for us, legal advice, representation, drafting documents etc but also more broadly training, business consultancy on set up models and a range of other associated categories. You need to be very clear with your insurer of the types of business you are doing and they quote accordingly.