Hi guys,

I'm in the process of starting up a few new business and could do with some advice.

All three business''s are in different industries and not relevent to each other.

Ideally this is what i'd like to do.

Open one Ltd Co that bears no resemblance to any of the industries (like Virgin) and then have three seperate trading names. Firstly is this possible and is this the most simple way of doing things?

Should i open up a seperate bank account for each business for accounts reasons and is this something that banks are okay with (3 accounts | Virgin Ltd T/A 1 | Virgin Ltd T/A 2 | Virgin Ltd T/A 3)?

Will i then have to file 3 separate annual account or put them all together?

Finally if one goes bust then will that effect the other two?

Thanks
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Virgin is not one company but a lot of Ltd and some PLC's under a large holding company

The way you describe,in different markets would probably be quite hard on accounts as all would be part of the ltd company, out company has different tradin names but all simular in what they do so easy to combine into one account even though 6 trading names

in your plan only the LTD could go bust

How are you starting up three new companies, most people find one more than enough to start with but may grow others when they have the money and more importantly people in place to run the others
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"Aim for the World".....

Okay so one is going to be web design, off of that i will have some different e-commerce websites (which may turnover ?0 pa or ?0kpa). On the side i will also have a marketing company.

I'd rather it wasn't obvious to my "clients" that i have numerous companies but really the most important thing i want to know is:
1 - should i register them all as seperate ltd co's or can have them registered under one umbrella?
2 - Bank accounts, is it "the norm" to have many seperate accounts and i can then have 1 for each business

I basically dont want to start off on the wrong foot, set them all up as individual Ltd co's with seperate business accounts to find out a year down the line that i've done it the most expensive and time consuming way.

Please advise.....

Thanks you
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Bear in mind this from HMRC:

Do not avoid registering for VAT by artificially separating business activities:



Separate entities selling to registered and unregistered customers. The VAT registered business sells only to VAT registered customers and the business not registered for VAT sells to customers who are not registered for VAT.
The same equipment or premises being used by different entities on a regular basis. The premises and/or equipment are owned by one of the parties, who charges rent to the others. This situation may occur in businesses such as launderettes and takeaway food operations.
Splitting up what is usually a single sale. This is common in industries such the bed and breakfast trade, where one business supplies the bed and another the breakfast.

Full details on this link:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/reg-how-to.htm
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Open one Ltd Co that bears no resemblance to any of the industries (like Virgin) and then have three seperate trading names. Firstly is this possible and is this the most simple way of doing things?
Yes you can do this, and it is the most simple. You have Dazzle Ltd, trading as whichever trading names you like. You have to make it obvious on your stationery etc that My Trading Name is a trading name of Dazzle Ltd.

Should i open up a seperate bank account for each business for accounts reasons and is this something that banks are okay with (3 accounts | Virgin Ltd T/A 1 | Virgin Ltd T/A 2 | Virgin Ltd T/A 3)?
I think it depends on your bank. I've known companies to have an arrangement with their bank that they can pay in cheques in the names of One, Two and Three all into Their Name Ltd.

Will i then have to file 3 separate annual account or put them all together?

If you have 1 Ltd co, you have one set of accounts (in terms of Companies house reporting - internally, you'd probably want to separate the 3 streams to see how well each was performing). If you have 3 Ltd Co's you have 3 sets of accounts and thus 3 sets of accountancy fees.

Finally if one goes bust then will that effect the other two?
If it's all one company then yes.

As Elaine says, watch out for 'artificial separation' for VAT. Also, if you do decide to set up 3 companies, and they have the same ownership, their profits will be added together when working out what rate of corporation tax to pay, even though they will be taxed individually (associated companies).

HTH :)
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Setting up and managing 3 separate limited companies is a big task and is unlikely to have any tax benefits but certainly cost more in terms of time and money.

I would advise you set up a single limited company if that is your desire and run each division under a separate trading name. Discuss the arrangement with the bank if you prefer to run separate bank accounts although it may be easier to run a single bank account.

The fact that division "Website Design" cheques are paid to Dazzle Ltd and "E-commerce" division receipts are also payable to Dazzle Limited isn't a problem. All PLC's operate this way anyway.

If one division fails to perform financially then close it but as one company the losses incurred would be offset against the profits of the other divisions.

Keep it as simple as possible as it is best to concentrate on your business rather than the admin and accounts. First year is always the most difficult and not all your ideas are likely to be profitable and I would think it likely that after a few months maybe a year trading you will be considering changting direction and concentrating on the most profitable business ventures and dropping others.

By operating under a single company it is always an option to change the corporate structure at a later date.
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Spooky, this is exactly the same idea as I've got, and posted in a previous thread only this afternoon !

Great advice though folks, thanks :rolleyes:
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Thanks for all the advice guys....i want to make it as simple as possible and the advice i have got from here has led me in the right direction.

Twas never my intention to avoid being VAT registered although interesting point as i dont want HMRC to think that's my intention. Am i being nieve but i thought it was a benefit to be VAT registered so that i can claim VAT back on all purchases and invoices??

I was going to become VAT registered as an individual and then when i register as a Ltd company (say 3-6 months) transfer it to the company.

If there's any reason that this sounds like a bad idea then i'm all ears.

Thanks again people.
Dazzle
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