Paying Company Money into a Personal Account

[D3K]

HSBC can open a Business Account for you in an hour and give you the account number then, and there. Go into the nearest Business Branch, after having phoned ahead to make an appointment.

All you need:

Company Incorporation Certificate
Photo ID (Passport / Driving Licence)
Proof of Address - Utility Bill

Why muck about?

I only moved to the UK a couple of weeks before starting work. As a result meeting the proof of address requirements has proved to be a nightmare.

Why have you gone to Lloyds if TSB processes didn't work for you? I know they're separate banks now, but TSB will have adopted Lloyds processes, so don't be surprised if you get the same issues with Lloyds.

I've spoken to Lloyds on the phone and the guy indicated Lloyds didn't need proof of address to open the account, which was the major stumbling block with TSB.

TSB also required my partner and I to have separate business bank accounts even though we're working through the same LTD company. Lloyds don't.

[sal]

Can you ask the Agency to write YourCo a check for the amount owed so far and then try to deposit the check to your personal account and treat it as a Director Loan until you can get YourCo bank account sorted out?

[JRCT]

True. Half wondering if its better just to wait, but I don't have any real idea how long it's going to take Lloyds to sort out the business account.

And honestly half of it is just wanting to one up the agency. Apart from getting me the contract they've been useless. Every piece of information they've given me from the Opt-Out agreement to the office dress code has been wrong. They even pissed off the Client by scheduling a meeting and then never turning up (or even phoning).

Why have you gone to Lloyds if TSB processes didn't work for you? I know they're separate banks now, but TSB will have adopted Lloyds processes, so don't be surprised if you get the same issues with Lloyds.

[Scruff]

HSBC can open a Business Account for you in an hour and give you the account number then, and there. Go into the nearest Business Branch, after having phoned ahead to make an appointment.

All you need:

Company Incorporation Certificate
Photo ID (Passport / Driving Licence)
Proof of Address - Utility Bill

Why muck about?

[D3K]

Once you have the OK from your accountant get them to send a formal letter to the agency explaining the circumstances and that it's all perfectly legal and within agreed terms. The agency are more likely to act on this than a few ranting emails from a newbie contractor.

True. Half wondering if its better just to wait, but I don't have any real idea how long it's going to take Lloyds to sort out the business account.

And honestly half of it is just wanting to one up the agency. Apart from getting me the contract they've been useless. Every piece of information they've given me from the Opt-Out agreement to the office dress code has been wrong. They even pissed off the Client by scheduling a meeting and then never turning up (or even phoning).

[JRCT]

If you use an Umbrella then your contract is with them, they have a contract with the agency. Your Ltd is not in the contract.

So, if you then changed to Ltd, the agency would have to draw up a whole new contract with your Ltd. This might not be worth their effort, or the Umbrella's if it's only for a few weeks.

[Contreras]

Thanks for the response, and that's good to know. I'm waiting on a further response from my accountant and then I think I'm going to have to send an angry email or two.

Once you have the OK from your accountant get them to send a formal letter to the agency explaining the circumstances and that it's all perfectly legal and within agreed terms. The agency are more likely to act on this than a few ranting emails from a newbie contractor.

[D3K]

However you don't actually have to treat it as a loan to you. You could be strictly holding it in trust for the company. It may be as well to draft an agreement to this effect. And don't dip your mitts into it of course, though use it in the normal way the company would to pay its bills etc. This assumes it is obviously and visibly ring fenced from your personal funds.

It is not unreasonable for the agency not to pay into an account held in the company name. This begs the question of "how do they know". Just tell them to please remit via bacs to a/c no/sort code.

I'm assuming you can tell from the sort code or account number. They rang up to question it based on the number. I'm assuming I could use it to pay business expenses etc? Which at this point would boil down to paying my own wages and reimbursing for expenses.

I've never used an Umbrella but I think I'm right in saying that you can't just use an Umbrella for a couple of weeks. You'd have to see out the whole contract with the Umbrella then use your Ltd for the next.

Pretty sure you can. I discussed this with my accountant when I was first going through the motions and they said it would be fine. There's certainly at least one other guy at my office doing it.

I think this is one of those things where its entirely at the agency's discretion. If they do not want to pay into your nominated bank account because its not in the company name I'm not sure what else you can do other than keep trying to convince them.

Hence my comment about not opting out. I would of thought since they're required to pay me and not delay payment under the regulations as long as I'd given them a legal manner of doing so they'd be required to do it.

[ASB]

If it is under 10k treating it as a loan may well be simpler and there is no benefit in kind because it is under 10k.

However you don't actually have to treat it as a loan to you. You could be strictly holding it in trust for the company. It may be as well to draft an agreement to this effect. And don't dip your mitts into it of course, though use it in the normal way the company would to pay its bills etc. This assumes it is obviously and visibly ring fenced from your personal funds.

It is not unreasonable for the agency not to pay into an account held in the company name. This begs the question of "how do they know". Just tell them to please remit via bacs to a/c no/sort code.

If you have an accountant run it by them.

[JRCT]

This is on the back of another discovery which was they told me that the Client refused to deal with Umbrella companies as I wanted to go Umbrella until my ltd was set up. I've since found out the newest contractor at the office is on Umbrella while setting up his limited company.

I've never used an Umbrella but I think I'm right in saying that you can't just use an Umbrella for a couple of weeks. You'd have to see out the whole contract with the Umbrella then use your Ltd for the next.