Business start up help

[oluwabamidele09]

Hi all. Just wondering if someone could shed some light on something.

I’m strongly considering starting a very small business from home selling clothing products. I have a supplier sourced and I know that the type of clothing will be popular with the right audience, in which I’m heavily involved in.

Now, I work in a job which puts me in the higher tax bracket by years end. I’m not going to be leaving this job as I’m there 11 years and am still satisfied there. However, I’ve had a burning desire to have a side gig at the same time.

Can someone please advise if a sole trader is the route I should go? Or is there something else I should look at?

I fully expect to earn less than €5,000p/y in this side gig. But the initial investment needs to be €1,000 and I need a VAT no. for this to work.

Mainly the reason I want to do this is to earn just a little bit of extra money on the side, but also to do something extra with my spare time. I’m not looking to be a millionaire from this. It’s just some fun on the side.

Thanks in advance!

 

[hangman]

@oluwabamidele09 You can set up with a company called Incorpro… they’re very good and do everything for you.

You can even have them act as your secretary, and accountants if you want.

I set mine up in the space of a few weeks for €300 including company seal and secretary service.

Once you’ve a LTD company set up, you’ll be given a VAT number by them too.

 

[oluwabamidele09]

@hangman Thank you so much. I will look into this.

 

[grimsmith]

@oluwabamidele09 First off you'll struggle to get a VAT number if you won't be doing enough trade to come within the VAT net. They can be used for various frauds so it typically takes at least 6 weeks to get one (and that's if you meet the criteria). Will you be trading enough to hit that threshold?

On top of that, based on the numbers you've given I don't know why you'd bother. You'll be taking on a bunch of risk, giving up your time, and you'll be making about €200 a month after tax. How many hours of work will that take you to earn?

For what you've outlined I would want to be making €100 an hour to offset the risk etc. I'm sure it's gonna take you more than 2 hours a month.

Why?

 

[oluwabamidele09]

@grimsmith Why? Because I’m wanting to do this with some time and the opportunity finally came. Hence why I’m trying to find out if there’s any way to go around this, or how to make this work.

What I’m looking at is a very niche market so it’s very tricky to see just how much I’d earn in its first year. But who knows where it could lead to.

 

[grimsmith]

@oluwabamidele09 No idea why I’m getting downvoted on this but if there’s a bigger potential upside it might be worth your while. Check out Revenue.ie about getting a VAT number. I suspect multiple VAT scams in the last decade are going to make life very difficult for you