Group of sole traders under one name

A

AJ1

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Hi there,

Is it possible/legal for a group of sole traders to operate under one name? As in three or four sole traders working in the same building doing similar work but giving the premises and website a name? Each sole trader would be registered for tax separately. Social care/health related professionals.
 
It may or may not be a partnership.

There is nothing to stop a group of autonomous sole traders sharing overheads and branding if that's what's being proposed here.
 
Yes it wouldn't be a partnership in the legal sense. We wouldn't be registering a business name. Moreover giving the clinic a name and the website would be the name of the clinic listing the individuals. The individuals would be paid directly by the clients they work with and each clinician would do a separate tax return. We would be sharing the cost of the rent
 
So something like The Grafton Clinic. With a website and shared receptionist and rent and probably covering for each other.

Tax wise, there is no problem.

You would have to make it very clear that they are all separate individuals. If one is sued, they will probably all be sued. Of course, you will be able to say that they are separate but you will spend a lot of time and legal fees in court showing that you are separate.

The name would be important. The Grafton Centre.

I imagine other medical professionals do this. Talk to them before doing anything to see what problems they encountered.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
You would have to make it very clear that they are all separate individuals. If one is sued, they will probably all be sued. Of course, you will be able to say that they are separate but you will spend a lot of time and legal fees in court showing that you are separate.
Click to expand...
This. The more strongly and consistently the traders concerned present themselves to the public at large as a common enterprise, the harder it will be for them to seek to be treated, in a dispute with a member of the public, as a series of separate businesses. As between themselves, the traders involved may not have constituted a partnership, but if they hold themselves out to the world in a way that gives the impression that they are a partnership, they may be boxed in by the impression they have created, rather than by the strict legalities of the contracts they have drawn up among themselves.

So, operating separate businesses under a common name is perfectly legitimate, and not uncommon. (It's how a lot of franchises work.) But there are risks involved, and you want to think very carefully about whether the benefits of a common brand justify the risks, and about how you can arrange matters so as to minimise those risks.
 
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