Starting a new business

bombidol

Hello, im thinking of starting a business here in Ireland, we would cater to market that have no other source of the products we would sell, the only problem is i have no idea how to go about starting this up, i would hope to open a retail store. I have heard about a small business package offered by banks, does anyone know what this is? Also i think i will need a VAT number does anyone know how to go about this?
If anyone has experience in this please post up

thanks

BomB

Shad0r

bomb, if you see a niche market exploit it.

If you really dont have a clue about companies and dont know anybody who is a lawyer/account etc then your probably better off finding a partner who does know about these things.

From an actual legal point of view you have a few options:

1) if you set up by yourself you need to contact the registrar and register yourself as a sole trader. With this afaik you can open a shop and trade but you can only put your actual name above the door. If you want to call it something like: "bomidols baskets" or whatever then you need to register the name aswell. This type of organisation is generally a bad idea if you are going to be in a postion where you have creditors (people that your buying the stock your then reselling from but that)

2) Private Limited Company. This is probably the best option to be honest. It costs around 60 quid I think (maybe more) to set up yourself or you can buy an "off the shelf" company (about 200 quid or thereabouts) which is one that has already been set up essentially. It costs more because its a lot less work. With a Ltd. company you have a liability limited to the amount of money that you put into the company. In other words if the company goes bust and you owe tonnes of money to creditors, they cant touch things like your car or property that is owned personally, only assets owned by the business.

I'm pretty sure you'll be given a VAT number automatically once you form/buy an ltd company.

As far as the banks packages available goes I have only hearsay to add. I was told once (altho I never got round to checking it out) that you were better off getting a personal loan to finance a business than getting a business loan. On the face of things that doesnt seem to make much sense but none the less thats what I was told. Maybe someone here actually knows?

Victor

Originally posted by Shad0r
2) Private Limited Company. This is probably the best option to be honest. It costs around 60 quid I think (maybe more) to set up yourself or you can buy an "off the shelf" company (about 200 quid or thereabouts) which is one that has already been set up essentially. It costs more because its a lot less work. With a Ltd. company you have a liability limited to the amount of money that you put into the company. In other words if the company goes bust and you owe tonnes of money to creditors, they cant touch things like your car or property that is owned personally, only assets owned by the business.

See www.cro.ie The problem with a limited company is that you will need to have audited accounts every year (could cost €4,000+).

Originally posted by Shad0r
I'm pretty sure you'll be given a VAT number automatically once you form/buy an ltd company.

Just contact your local tax office. If you operate as a sole trader, you are likely to be given the number IE 9999999X, where 9999999X is your existing PPS number (RSI number). A company will be given its own unique number.

Originally posted by Shad0r
As far as the banks packages available goes I have only hearsay to add. I was told once (altho I never got round to checking it out) that you were better off getting a personal loan to finance a business than getting a business loan. On the face of things that doesnt seem to make much sense but none the less thats what I was told. Maybe someone here actually knows?

Bank of Ireland will give you 2 years free banking if you start up a new business.