I’d appreciate the collective’s advice when it comes to operating as a Sole Trader, possibly VAT registered, to set the scene:

I’ve just signed a consultancy agreement whereby I’ll be allocated projects, I’ll invoice head office and be paid accordingly.

Work will be split fairly evenly between home and on-site.

I will need to purchase (or lease) a car and computer equipment, provide my own PI insurance and pay for some fairly pricey courses/registrations – circa £10k in the first year.

I can charge expenses to head office, including car mileage at 45/25p, I expect to travel 10-15k miles as a minimum per year.

I have many questions but I’ll start with a few that seem to be bothering me:

Based on the model above would you employ the services/advice of an accountant or is this something you can tackle easily yourself, or indeed on a bike forum?

Would you consider VAT registration (I’ll be well under the threshold) and if so under what scheme?

Would you purchase a Car or Lease? Assume start-up funds are generally heathy, I’ve retired my car so this is a little more critical than it ought to be.

Any general advice or resources you’d like to share?

Thanks

on that level of use, get an accountant.
I am a sole trader, VAT registered, but do my own books,. work from home, purchase very little kit and have very few outgoings. Your stuff is way more complex.

I have no idea about most of the other bits but I’d poke VAT registration off until you absolutely have to register for it. If you’re going to be well under the threshold, why give yourself another HMRC-related headache?

Have you thought of setting up as a personal services company as opposed to sole trader?

Definitely an accountant with that sort of setup. Go and talk to a few to see how they work, what sort of backup you’ll have if your contact goes awol etc.

Are the IR35 regs still an issue if you’re a contractor getting all your work from one company?

Why not Ltd company and flat-rate VAT ?

Talk to an accountant.

Been sole trader for 20 odd years about half of which I was employing a few staff as well.

Accounts: Always done my own, it’s not difficult. Changed to Quickbooks Online about 18 months ago (basically because I was fed up with entering transactions manually) – made life much easier.

VAT: You’re not dealing with the public so defo get registered, it will make no difference to ‘head office’ and you’ll be surprised at what you can get back if you’re not flat rate. I do cash accounting so I don’t pay VAT until I’ve been paid it by my clients.

Car: No idea. Always bought my own and put expenses through the books – plus you can get capital allowance.

Be very wary of only having one client – been there, it can go wrong quite quickly.

The above observations are just my situation, I’m not an accountant and it may not be the best way to do stuff but it works for me.

edit: your accounting seems pretty simple – you’re just invoicing your time presumably with no stock or anything?

I found the government site pages pretty good for guidance when I set up as a sole trader e.g. https://www.gov.uk/expenses-if-youre-self-employed/overview
but I do my own books as quite simple compared to what you are doing.

I got VAT registered when I was well below the limit, mainly so I could reclaim the VAT on startup tools etc. It’s not a major hassle really.

My bigger worry would be that your situation doesn’t sound like being self employed to me – one customer, required to do training courses etc, billing mileage to head office, it sounds a lot to me like you’re an employee but they’re trying to avoid giving you employee rights, and making you pay for training courses.

If you do go down this route, I’d be looking for other clients ASAP.

As thepurist queried, are you able to be a sole trader getting all your business from one Client. I don’t think you are, but check with HMRC.