Starting a new business

[Doseydots]

Good morning

My friend and me have decided to set up an ironing business, as a little earner on top of our day job.

I haven’t a clue how to go about setting up a small business, do we have to register with hmrc, do we both go self employed and register separately or do a partnership. What would be the difference?

We don’t suppose we will earn too much, maybe about £100 a month.

Thank you for your help

You do have to register with HMRC and fill in a tax return each year, so keep details of money in and out of the business. The difference between sole trader and partnership is that if a partnership, all profits and tax liability are split between you, which could cause a complication if one of you does more work than the other but you have decided to do a 50/50 split (you can do other splits).
Make a list of some ground rules between you. Mixing friendship and business isn't usually advisable so you need to make sure you are not going to fall out.
I would recommend getting some liability insurance as well. You don't want to ruin someone's expensive suit and then they sue you.

Thank you for that. Yes I am wondering about mixing friendship and business but we are going to give it trial and see how it goes. I am thinking I need to learn how to do bookkeeping.

Are you going to register as a partnership? I think the main problem with a partnership is if one person does, or thinks they do, more work than the other.

If you think this will be OK, then you will need to keep a record of miles driven (if you are picking up and collecting) and you will be able to claim 45p per mile.

You can also claim for running costs if you work from home, eg electricity. I know how to do this if you work alone, but I'm not sure how it works if you're in a legal partnership.

It would be really good to email customers at very busy times of the year (for them) offering to take on ironing, eg end of term, just before the start of term, Friday nights, etc.

Thank you for that, I appreciate your help. We have some flyers printed off which we are going to deliver today. We are offering an introductory offer. We are going to have a chat about how we set up the business this afternoon.

THe links are a bit out of date
but much of the core information you need is here
talkinpeace2.blogspot.co.uk/

an remember that if you are emailing people you will have to comply with GDPR come May ....

Thank you talkin that is very helpful though I don’t have a clue what GDPR