Starting business partnerships can be daunting but this course explains what is entailed.
In the overall business population in 2015, there were:
- 1.8 million companies (32%),
- 421,000 ordinary partnerships (8%).
- 3.3 million sole proprietorships (60% of the total).
These types of business are ‘structures’. Your business type will define your legal responsibilities for:
- The paperwork required to get the business started.
- Taxes you’ll have to manage and pay.
- How you can take the profit the business makes, and
- Your legal liabilities if the business fails or makes a loss.
The type of company you chose is not about the size of the business but more about what level of legal liability you are prepared to risk (see further below).
Let’s assume that we are setting up your business just for you and a couple of friends/others.
Your first question is – “Do we intend to make a profit?”
This is an important question because you can form an ‘unincorporated association’ if you’re setting up a small club or group and don’t intend to make a profit. There are also separate rules for Charities.
If you are going to be “for–profit”, there are 3 basic types of company:
- Limited Company
- Partnerships (Ordinary and Limited Liability Partnerships)
- Sole-trader
All businesses are regulated by the Companies Act 2006 and HMRC regulations.
This course assumes that you are starting a business to make a profit and so we will cover Ordinary and Limited Liability forms of the Partnership structure.
What is a partnership?
A Partnership is where several people, normally who have a common practice or profession, form a business. The business profits are shared between the partners in equal or pre-agreed shares as set out in a Partnership Agreement.
- Each partner reports business earnings, expenses and profits through their personal tax returns.
- Each partner shares the business liabilities – financial and non-financial.
- In addition, a Lead Partner is responsible for the Partner reports but the business itself has no tax liability.
Limited Liability Partnership
Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP) are a nuanced version of a Limited business between a Partnership and a Limited Company.
A LLP is where the Partners are limited in their business liability but, the LLP doesn’t attract any of the tax advantages of a Limited Company.
Therefore, the LLP has the advantage of reducing the personal liability of the partners while retaining the simpler personal tax, reporting and profits regime set out in a Partnership Agreement.
Who are they good for?
Partnerships are good for professionals who share common or complementary skills and wish to provide those as services to others – typically a group of experts who want to form a consulting practice.
To be as accurate as we can, some of the course content has been taken from official websites and is available under the Open Government Licence v2.0, except where otherwise stated.
Follow-on
Please enrol in one of the membership groups to get access to this course.
Starting a Partnership
Why would I form a partnership? To share costs and leverage my expertise with colleagues!
Letting the taxman know you’re now self employed is required under law – this is how you get started and ready to tell him!
As a self employed partner, you can use your personal accounts to run your business. However, you must keep your personal and business accounts separate – here’s how.
What records do I need and what do I need to report and how? You must keep records of your business income and expenses.
Expenses and Allowances
What can I claim against the tax I pay from the business? Can I still claim some expenses on a personal basis?
How do I account for vehicle expenses? There are 2 key methods – actual costs and fixed costs. Both methods must be adjusted when using a company vehicle exclusively for the business, using for business and personal use (say your own car).
Woah – this sound complicated. Well its not and these ‘capital allowances’ are an important aspect of your business finances. Capital expenditure is the money you spend on items you would expect to last several years and they are referred to as assets – because they have a resale value.
There are different types of NIC – which types or types must I pay? Can I get exemptions?
Before you start there will be preparatory expenditure – keep a record, some get tax relief.
Entrepreneurs’ Relief means you’ll pay tax at 10% on all gains on qualifying assets.
General Information and Tips
This section contains practical help on things like ‘How do manage my time?’, and ‘where you can get software to help your business?’
A short quiz to ensure that the key points of the course have been noted.
What you need to do depends on the type of business you started, if you’re VAT registered and if you employ people. In all cases, it’s not that difficult but requires some preparation and thought.