Need advice on when to form a Ltd. company?

[andynags]

@Wanderer - Invaluable advice. This really helps. Thank you!
@eek - Thanks for your input. I have 5 years n Financial services including insurance and banking, 3 years each Telecoms and Transport and rest in manufacturing and Government. Do you think my experience better or having 15 years in Insurance/Banking? I thought its latter though and wanted to completely focus on Financial services, if possible insurance sector.

[eek]

@Wanderer - Invaluable advice. This really helps. Thank you!
@eek - Thanks for your input. I have 5 years n Financial services including insurance and banking, 3 years each Telecoms and Transport and rest in manufacturing and Government. Do you think my experience better or having 15 years in Insurance/Banking? I thought its latter though and wanted to completely focus on Financial services, if possible insurance sector.

My viewpoint is to never end up in 1 area as that could leave you in a sticky situation if that area of the market dries up. Personally its safer to work across 2 or 3 different markets (even 2 technology stacks) so that if 1 area goes quiet you aren't left on the bench.

[Jeremiah@RHJAccountants]

I would recommend speaking to an accountant when you secure your first contract.

A company can be formed within a day and most accountants like us can introduce you to a bank and what insurance you will need.

Other things to think about is registration for:

PAYE
VAT and the flat rat scheme
Share structure

An accountant will be able to go through this with you and any other questions you may have.

Good luck with getting that first contract!

[TykeMerc]

True, if you're new to contracting and have never had a Ltd before you can do a lot worse than to engage a contractor savvy accountant early on. There are a fair few who post on CUK so tracking one down will be trivial.

They can and will offer useful advice if you ask for it and you would be wise to ask as they're very used to answering questions from people like us who're not accountants

[Craig at Nixon Williams]

To echo the advice of others, I would wait until you have your first contract secured before forming a company. The formation only takes a few hours so they usually come back the same day and once you have the registration number you should be good to go!

When you appoint an accountant they will be able to form the company and complete the necessary registrations with HMRC as part of the set-up process.

Hope this helps!
Craig

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

My advice would differ a little to the other accountants on here; it may be sensible to get your company in place before your contract starts - depending on how much time there is between offer and start.

Yes, companies can be incorporated in a matter of hours, but HMRC registrations take longer (small issue) and bank account opening times are a lottery (bigger issues). It takes one more stress out of things if this is ticked off earlier.

I don't know about others, but my firms policy is not to start monthly charges till the contract starts, so a company can be set u in advance without financial penalty.

Good luck with finding the contract, and getting going.