Just curious how is your company registered, if your answer is not in the poll options just post here, thanks.

Partnership here.

Just curious. Is it legal to not be registered? If so, when does it become illegal?

if your using your name, like 'your last name' hosting, you guys would fall under sole prop. anyway, what is society?

Not really "illegal" not to be registered. You can run a business as a Sole Trader in the UK, but you will need to let the Inland Revenue know - presuming you are in the UK.

We have recently become a limited company, this has a number of benefits and also a number of downsides.

Originally posted by Dave-A-M
Just curious. Is it legal to not be registered? If so, when does it become illegal?

This depends on where you are.

Here in Australia you don't have to be registered if you call the business "Your Name" with no add-ons. For example, I could call my business "Shaun Ewing" without any repercussions as long as I notified the tax office of the income (which I have done for a separate business of mine).

--Shaun.

Just to correct your question, AFAIK, SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP cannot be registered. Anyone can start/have SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP, at least it is how in my State, in USA it is.

Originally posted by AceWeb
Just to correct your question, AFAIK, SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP cannot be registered. Anyone can start/have SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP, at least it is how in my State, in USA it is.

A business can be registered as a "Sole Proprietorship" here in NSW, Australia.

If I wanted to start a business called "Shaun Ewing"; I would be the sole proprietor (but I wouldn't have to register it).

If I wanted to start a business called "Shaun Ewing Hosting"; I would still be a sole proprietor and would have to register it accordingly.

--Shaun

Strnage. I guess I will have to do some more seraching. i wanted to register mine, but i was always tooled that if you are Sole, then you do not get registered.

Thanks for the post, I will check it out.

You must register an Entity if it is not already in your Taxation database system, I think you'll find that in every part of the world.

In Australia you cannot trade under your full name if you do not have a Tax File Number, you still need to register.

You must also register an ABN (Australian Business Number) for GST reasons if your income from your business is over 50K otherwise its classed as a hobby, but you'll find not many businesses will trade without an ABN.

Go speak to your accountant.

Originally posted by shaunewing

If I wanted to start a business called "Shaun Ewing"; I would be the sole proprietor (but I wouldn't have to register it).
--Shaun

If you do not have a tax file number, you still need to register.

In order to start a sole proprietorship or partership here (Pennsylvania), one does not have to register. Income to the proprietor or partner is taxed as personal income. However, if you enter into a contract with someone using your company name, you can't enforce the contract in court if you're registered. Additionally, there is liability protection.

Partnership/sole proprietorship works great if you're starting out small, but as one grows, it's a good idea to move into a LLC or C-Corp.

One thing to remember with partnerships: Any contract entered into by ANY PARTNER is binding for the whole partnership. Liability extends to EVERY PARTNER. Easy to register, but an LLC is a much better idea.

BTW: C-Corp was forgotten in the poll ;)

It's fairly cheap to start a C-Corp or LLC. See: http://www.mycorporation.com/