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garycocs

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Hi lads,

I thought there was a thread here before describing how to start a company?

Just wondering what's involved? I heard it's easy and cheap enough to get a company name and that. It's the accounts at year end could be the expensive thing?

How do people go about this? I'm just thinking about it from a part time developer stand point really??

Thanks
Gary
 

link8r

New Member
With extreme caution and lots of good advice. Your accounts can be expensive to prepare, although you can apply for Audit exemption if the business is less than 5 years and turnover is less than whatever the limit is, possibly 500k (I think). You can get and accountant/auditor in one.

A couple of things - a limited company is a separate legal entity. It must have 2 directors and all meetings must be held with a certain frequency and documented. Companies have a huge amount of paper work to file, regardless of size or age. For example, Annual Returns, Corportate Tax Returns and pre-assessments (i.e. staged payments on your estimated profits). Its worth noting, depending on how what purchases and expenses the company makes, that certain expenditures are not deductible from the companies turnover for calculating tax on profit. Its technically possibly to make a financial loss but a taxable profit. You also have to complete various Statistical forms for Forfas each year.

Directors have huge responsibilities and you should read some of the easy to read guides available on the web : Google

Also, you have to remember that even if you own 100% of the shares of the company, you dont technically own everything the company owns, especially if you have creditors (trade, bank, government/revenue, other investors) - and companies with debts have to go through a very dragged out liquidation process - particularly difficult considering as the only empoyee and director you would also have effectively lost your job but the assets, debts and creditors of the company would have to be managed by the liquidator.

If you dont get on well with your other director, this can pose problems too, as you will need their signature for various things, like your annual returns. They in urn have a lot of legal responsibilities.

The Limited Liability for Directors comes with a hoard of small print worth reading too - if you break any of the directives, rules or laws, you lose that and become personally liable.

A partnership/sole trader isn't a bad option. Its straightforward and clean. I couldnt see benefits for you to incorporate. Most of the directors tax benefits apply to sole traders too - with the exception of some perks like the pensions things, which mostly apply to the 55+ bracket (in terms of tax avoidance)- but this isn't a good reason on its own.

As for being personally liable, a Limited company can be held liable and sued, even if you can't. This could force the company to close and be liquidated with a big creditor. Either way you'd need professional indemnity insurance.
 

achieve

New Member
the real pain with a limited company, is having to have audited accounts annually, plus there are serious fines if certain forms aren't submitted on time.
I know, have been there. Certainly, setting up as a sole trader is much easier, and cheaper. just register a business name, setup bank account and off you go. Depending on turnover you can choose whether you to register for VAT or not. Regards filing annual returns, you can do this online, and you do not need audited accounts.
 

garycocs

New Member
Thanks for the advice lads, that's been a good help. I don't have the need for another "director as it's only me myself and I and the company sounds like way too much costs and trouble for something that mightnt even work. I guess I'll go the sole trader route and register a business name. Will that business name then work for registering .ie's??

Oh and how do I register the business name :D

Thanks for all ye're help.
 

mneylon

Administrator
Staff member
None of us are qualified accountants, so I'm not sure how correct any of the advice people have posted is

Based on my own experience ...

Get a good accountant as soon as you can- it will save you a lot of headaches later

As for registering a business - just go to the CRO site and do it online
 

NuMero

New Member
I see you are mainly concerned registering your..ie.Being self employed will suffice. From my personal experience it's really easy to handle your tax affairs with the Revenue. As mentioned above you just have to register your name(.ie) with the CRO (you don't need any accountant to do so).You can file it online, simple and straightforward. Some accountants charge 100 bucks for this simple job :) The main part is to pop up in your local Revenue office and fill up TR1 Tax registration form, which will establish your obligations with the Revenue. That's about it. Most importantly Good Luck with your venture and bear in mind that Welfare benefits are mirage for those registered as self employed :D
 

AAA

New Member
I guess I'll go the sole trader route and register a business name. Will that business name then work for registering .ie's??

Oh and how do I register the business name :D

Thanks for all ye're help.

Well folks, already told You about the business name, let me just add that the business name will FULLY and TOTALLY work for registering ie domain. Of couse it means you should register IE domain with the same name as Your registered Business name :) Of this I am sure cause I've been calling CRO recently myself ;) In my country you can even claim and already registered domain if Your business name writes the same as this domain, either fully or even as acronym :) Maybe the same goes in Ireland, not sure though. But about BN and registering IE I am 100% positive :)
 

link8r

New Member
I see you are mainly concerned registering your..ie.Being self employed will suffice. From my personal experience it's really easy to handle your tax affairs with the Revenue. As mentioned above you just have to register your name(.ie) with the CRO (you don't need any accountant to do so).You can file it online, simple and straightforward. Some accountants charge 100 bucks for this simple job :) The main part is to pop up in your local Revenue office and fill up TR1 Tax registration form, which will establish your obligations with the Revenue. That's about it. Most importantly Good Luck with your venture and bear in mind that Welfare benefits are mirage for those registered as self employed :D

Self Employed people aren't automatically entitled to Unemployment Benefit but are entitled to Job Seekers allowance which can be up to the same value but it is means tested. And the medical card. But as Self Employed people (including most directors, esp where more than 15% of a company is owned) and are S-Class contributors (which is lower), most benefits given to employed people (like dentist PRSI contribution or being able to most other medical expenses) aren't allowed.
 
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