Fourteen year old legal status & Business Banking

[ewan]

I am currently in the process of setting up a small business. I have found a business bank account which I think is most suitable (namely, the business builder account from Alliance and Leicester) but have run into many issues surrounding the fact that I am fourteen.

To cut a long story short, I'm looking for an account to operate small business (projected turnover £1600 in first year). It is basically just an online store, selling imported and wholesale-sourced goods, which I can run alongside school with little hassle. The reason why I'm after a business account is that it can be in the name of the business, and is far easier to use in conjunction with international business payment methods (e.g. SWIFT).

The Alliance and Leicester account that I have been looking at, along with probably all business accounts ask for the legal status of the business. The key problem with registering as a sole trader is that, being fourteen, I obviously cannot set-up the account myself, and cannot register as self-employed myself (what a hassle for such a small operation!). My dad would have to set-up the account under his name and apply for me to be a signatory to the account - able to access the money. He is employed full-time and clearly does not want to have the extra hassle of also being registered as self-employed (which would be quite a contradiction of terms...). Actually, looking into the government's texts, it looks like it is nearly impossible to be both employed and self employed!

I need to find a solution to this big jumble of problems, and may have to resort to asking other banks if I can set up a normal account, fully accessible by myself, under the name of the business. I do need an account which can send payments via SWIFT though, as it is the method through which I will pay some of my suppliers in the far east.

Has anyone ever been in this kind of situtation? Has anyone any ideas?

[Ian J]

I think that the most that any bank will offer you is a savings account at your age and would suggest that you look more closely at your alternative of using your father's personal account.

He won't have to register as self employed as he won't be operating a business. If your turnover is only going to be £1,600 per annum I don't think that you will pay tax either as it's below the limits

[Teresa2084]

14? thats very young to be spending your time on the net starting up a business. What exactly are you selling?

[ewan]

I'm selling various things for the hobby RC market. Imported electric motors, and wholesale-sourced cable and connectors to be exact.

The whole thing isn't too big, just something on the side of school.

[Teresa2084]

Hi Ewen

for 14 yrs old you have really got yourself in a fix eh!

I have 3 kids and theres no way as much as I love them that id let them use my bank details.

I admire your need to start a business so young but dont you have friends your age to hang with?

Or are you and your friends all in it? Can I also ask what sort of education you are recieving because your much more advanced than any 14 yr old.

[ewan]

Most of my friends kinda do the same hobby as me, long story, but basically building fighting machines as you may have seen on programmes like Robot Wars back when they were still going. The hobby is great fun, but not really connected with business, I'm doing this small venture just to have fun and make abit of money in the process.

I go to school at a school called QEH, in the center of Bristol. Its a private boys school, which to most people sounds like some strict boarding school, but its nothing like that, and only about eight people board. The public schools in Bristol are rubbish, and the private ones outnumber them, so its not un-normal here to go private.

I guess I get my "intelligence" from both my quite complicated hobby, and my pretty decent school.

I've been getting some help on the business on another forum atm, you can see here if you want.

[Shaolyen]

Teresa2084, young people are a lot more sophisticated nowadays. I'm in my 20s now, but I started my business ventures when I was 12 - age is the biggest single handicap when you're that young. You can't borrow anything, no-one takes you seriously, and even if you have some money behind you the best you'll get is a "Solo" card for purchasing - transactions from across the pond are a real pain.

If you want to make good money when you're under 18, you need someone over 18 to do the things you can't, someone you can trust implicitly. In my case, my father has the same name as me - it helped a lot! You seem to be in a difficult situation because your Dad isn't willing to help out, and unfortunately there isn't a single business account out there for people under 18.

To be honest, you don't need a business account for that sort of turnover. If SWIFT payments are your only requirements, focus on finding a bank that can do that for you and set it up in your own name. When I was 14 I wasted far too much time trying to find a bank that could provide me with a business account - if you can make the payments for what you need, don't worry about anything else.

[Teresa2084]

Hi

I can see your intellegent and it is good to persue your hobby and start up a business however there is always plenty of time and whilst your stuck with the bank side of it, this is a great time to get more experience and knowledge however I don't recommend you spend all your time looking for a payment way as it may eat up all your time and take away your time in what you enjoy most.
Do your school offer any kind of support in projects?
I watched robot wars and think its great. Do you have a web site?

As a mother can I advise you NEVER give out the name of your school or area on the net as there are some pretty bad people out there.

[ewan]

Hi,

I don't think the school would support projects like this one. One of my ambitions is to make money afterall.

I don't intend to spend too much time setting up this business, almost everything is done but the last few orders and setting up of a bank account, none of it really eats up any time I would otherwise be useful things in.

You can see my robot site here . Its not been updated for a while now though.

[Teresa2084]

That is pretty cool.

Im impressed Ewan.

Its now 22 minutes to midnight new year so im off now until tomorrow as im about to let off fireworks and im pretty rubish at them. I run before i light them. IN fact everyone runs before i light them for some reason. I dont think they trust me lol

Happy new year Ewin and will chat some more on it soon ok.

Teresa