Setting up a T Shirt Online Company - The Legal Side of it all...

2882 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by PositiveDave, Aug 19, 2010

Oddle_T

Discussion Starter · Jul 31, 2010

Hey

I am in the process of starting up my online t shirt company and i am just after your expertise and experience in terms of the legal side of it all.

I have found quite a bit of info from this site and google that mainly covers the US market but limited info in the UK. Registered Identification Number comes up a lot in the threads and on wholesale enquiries but am i right in that it is only regarding the US market?

From what i have found it seems pretty simple here in the UK in that i can register as self employed as a sole trader - only having to sumbit an annual self assessment form every tax year paying just income tax on profits and NI contributions? Is this the norm that others on here suggest?

One other thing i am still unsure about is whether to trademark the name/logo etc - starting up have any of you done this or recommend doing this? Is it just extra hassle and waste of time when starting up?

Sorry for the long post, hope you can help me out and point me in the right direction if i am talking complete nonsense!!

Thank you in advance

John

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bigf00t

· #2 · Aug 14, 2010

I am also interested in learning the legal side of it all.

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G14

· #3 · Aug 17, 2010

Hi John

I registered as a sole trader in HMRC. You can do this by phone.
You can register up to 3 months after starting trading.

What I was told was just to keep a list of your expenses / sales and do your Self Assesment online.

Regarding NI as far as you do not go above i think £4,000 odds annual net profit you can apply for exemption from NIC2. Otherwise you pay around £2,40 a week.

here is a very helpful link:
Starting up | Business Link

and another one:
Business support, information and advice | bgateway.com

good luck, let me know if I could help

Viktor

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Oddle_T

Discussion Starter · #4 · Aug 19, 2010

Hi Viktor,

Thanks for the indepth reply - much appreciated.

One other thing - have you trademarked your brand name/designs at all?

Thanks

Jon

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G14

· #5 · Aug 19, 2010

Hi Jon,

I do tshirts only casually. I also do other things and I trade under my name at home. I have not trademarked brand nor designs. The designs are protected without trademarking as far as I know from the moment of first publication. I know by experience registering your designs does not help. When someone steals your designs it takes time and efforts to fight for your rights. You may however trademark them if you want. There are several smart ways of protecting your designs anyway.

Take care

V

Oddle_T said:
Hi Viktor,

Thanks for the indepth reply - much appreciated.

One other thing - have you trademarked your brand name/designs at all?

Thanks

Jon

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PositiveDave

· #6 · Aug 19, 2010

VAT is the important one, if you go over about £61000 in a year then you need to pay VAT. You may register for VAT if you think it will benefit you, i.e. you have a lot of things to buy.

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TwistedLogik

· #7 · Aug 19, 2010

Im looking into this at the moment as well.

I think the threshold for VAT is up to around £70000 PA now. Any less and its optional but like dave said if you're buying a lot of equipment then it could be an option.

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PositiveDave

· #8 · Aug 19, 2010

TwistedLogik said:
Im looking into this at the moment as well.

I think the threshold for VAT is up to around £70000 PA now. Any less and its optional but like dave said if you're buying a lot of equipment then it could be an option.

..in my day...real screenprinting...real VAT

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