Bank Account Question,

[mickk]

I've been a sole trader for 2 years and have been advised to make my wife a partner by our accountant, all straight forward enough.

The bank account I use, which I opened as soon as I started as a ST is a basic account, do I have to change that to a business account?

[HappySilver]

Ask the bank?

[ChrisNic]

mickk said:

I've been a sole trader for 2 years and have been advised to make my wife a partner by our accountant, all straight forward enough.

The bank account I use, which I opened as soon as I started as a ST is a basic account, do I have to change that to a business account?

It's likely that the terms and conditions on the 'basic' (personal??) account prohibit you from using it for a business so yes it's likely that you need to change it.

[SS2.]

As I understand it:

Sole Trader = no requirement for a business bank account;

Ltd company or Partnership = business bank account required;

[mickk]

Thanks, I'll speak to my accountant as I'm surprised he didn't mention it if that is a requirement.

[Simpo Two]

Are you going from Sole Trader to Partnership?

[mickk]

Yes I am.

[Jockman]

Well, that clears that up then.

[mickk]

Jockman said:

Well, that clears that up then.

It's as clear as mud.

[sgrimshaw]

There is no requirement to have a business bank account as a partnership, but it makes a huge amount of sense.

http://www.bytestart.co.uk/sole-trader-bank-accoun...

[mickk]

Thank you. Looking at my own circumstances I'm hoping to keep a personal account due to the added costs of the business account.

[Simpo Two]

For a very small business with relatively few transactions I'd tend to agree. As long as you show which transactions are for business and which are private (a highlighter worked for me after my dedicated account was discontinued) I can't think the accountant should grumble too much.

[sgrimshaw]

mickk said:

Thank you. Looking at my own circumstances I'm hoping to keep a personal account due to the added costs of the business account.

Will you need to pay in cash and cheques or make payments by cheque.

If everything can be done by transfers etc then it might be worth looking at this:

https://www.tide.co/?utm_source=Search&utm_cam...

There are no monthly fees, and the individual transaction charges are very low.

[mickk]

No cash or cheques everything done by bank transfer, that link looks interesting thanks.