Startup & New Business Accountants

Your first big decision is legal structure. As a sole trader, you can start almost immediately, keep admin light and simply register for self assessment — but you are personally liable for business debts and taxed on all profits as they arise. A limited company gives limited liability, a professional image and more flexibility over how and when you take income, at the cost of Companies House filings, statutory accounts and corporation tax returns.

The right answer depends on expected profits, risk, whether customers expect a company, and plans for growth or investment. Many businesses sensibly start as sole traders and incorporate later; others need a company from day one. We talk it through before you commit — and if a company is right, we handle the formation, including share structure decisions that are much easier to get right at the start than to fix later.

New businesses face a series of registrations, each with its own deadline:

• Self assessment — sole traders must register with HMRC by 5 October after the end of their first tax year
• Corporation tax — new companies must register within three months of starting to trade
• VAT — compulsory once taxable turnover passes the registration threshold on a rolling 12-month basis, though voluntary registration earlier sometimes pays
• PAYE — needed before you pay your first employee, or yourself a salary through a company

Missing these creates penalties before you have earned much of anything. We handle every registration as part of our startup service, and set up a deadline calendar so nothing is missed as the business grows.

After three decades of acting for new businesses, the same avoidable mistakes come up again and again:

1. Mixing personal and business money. Open a separate business account on day one — untangling a year of mixed transactions costs far more than the account ever will.
2. No system for records. A shoebox of receipts becomes an expensive problem in January. We set clients up on cloud bookkeeping software from the start, so invoices, expenses and bank feeds are captured as they happen and you can see real profit at any moment.
3. Not putting money aside for tax. Your first tax bill can include payments on account you did not expect. We estimate liabilities early so you can save as you earn.
4. Missing the VAT threshold. Turnover is tested on a rolling 12 months, not your accounting year — growing businesses sail past it without noticing.
5. Leaving claims and reliefs on the table. Pre-trading expenses can often be claimed, and if you are developing genuinely innovative products or processes, research and development tax relief may be available — worth a conversation before you assume it does not apply to you.