Limited company startup

[Rossdarragh]

Hi I've a few questions with regard to formation of a limited company, hopefully I can get some advice on here. I have an accountant but just want to gather as much info as possible prior to engaging with my accountant on the following. I expect turnover in the region of 500k a year. Company has been incorporated and VAT has been registered.

Banking

Which bank would be seen as the best for business accounts? I may need invoice discounting or an overdraft facility.

Accounting Software

I have been looking at XERO as it seems to be the most user friendly, however they now no longer do live feeds to Irish bank accounts since the introduction of Brexit. I'm not sure if they plan to fix this any time soon. Live feeds isn't the end of the world but at the same time I could have in he region of 70 transactions a month.

Car

I as the sole employee of the company will be on the road doing over 50km a year. Does it make more sense for the company to buy/lease a car or for me as the employee to buy a private car and charge the mileage to the company ?

Pension

I have an existing pension from my previous employment. What structure of a new pension should I set up in order to make it as tax efficient as possible in the future to take money out of the company? I will probably transfer the funds from my existing pension to this new one I'll be setting up

SURE funding

I'm aware of start-up relief for entrepreneurs, does anybody know how this works? From my limited knowledge of it it looks like that an amount that I put into the money as capital will be matched as part of SURE as long as I have paid the equivalent in income tax in the previous 4/5 years.

I've probably put a lot of questions in this and some may be in the wrong thread but would appreciate any advice. I know more detail may be needed but just looking to get my head around a few things.

 

[Zenith63]

Banking: Very happy with Bank of Ireland Business Banking

Accounting: I'd second Xero

Car: From a purely financial point of view it probably looks like owning the car yourself and claiming mileage is the best return for you, however once the business gets busy the hassle of maintaining mileage records is very frustrating. Not sure what the journey lengths you'll be doing are, but consider an electric car, fuel costs will be 25% of a petrol/diesel and BIK is significantly reduced. If you need to do 300-400km per day just get a diesel.

Pension: Executive Pension plans are very tax efficient because the company can make all the contributions net of all taxes and the employer contributions limits are high. I set one up with Zurich directly over a couple of phone calls.

SURE funding: Don't know much about it, but if you do need to put money into the company consider doing it as a Directors loan, you can take it back out tax free then. If you put money in directly and are paying yourself from the company you're basically losing half your money in income tax, so even if SURE do match your capital you end up in a similar place to simply using Directors loans, with more hassle. Again though not an expert here.

 

[Rossdarragh]

Banking: Very happy with Bank of Ireland Business Banking

Accounting: I'd second Xero

Car: From a purely financial point of view it probably looks like owning the car yourself and claiming mileage is the best return for you, however once the business gets busy the hassle of maintaining mileage records is very frustrating. Not sure what the journey lengths you'll be doing are, but consider an electric car, fuel costs will be 25% of a petrol/diesel and BIK is significantly reduced. If you need to do 300-400km per day just get a diesel.

Pension: Executive Pension plans are very tax efficient because the company can make all the contributions net of all taxes and the employer contributions limits are high. I set one up with Zurich directly over a couple of phone calls.

SURE funding: Don't know much about it, but if you do need to put money into the company consider doing it as a Directors loan, you can take it back out tax free then. If you put money in directly and are paying yourself from the company you're basically losing half your money in income tax, so even if SURE do match your capital you end up in a similar place to simply using Directors loans, with more hassle. Again though not an expert here.

Thanks for the reply Zenith, very informative. With regard to BOI business banking, I'm looking to set up my customers on direct debit. Customers are happy to do so but I'm struggling to get a provider to do this. Payments will range from €1000 to €10000, with an average payment of €3000 but I'm struggling to find a provider to cover these amounts. Do you know of any providers out there, go cardless weren't willing to take our business as they say it's not a business area they cover in the retail sector I'm in.

 

[jpd]

Accounting: I don't know what size company you are looking at, but www.manager.io is free for a single user, desktop version and works well