Dazza has raised some good points, but also a few on which my experience
differs. Be aware that I'm based in Victoria, so it's possible that the laws
are sufficiently different between these two states to account for the
difference.
DaZZa wrote:
> Maintaining a pty ltd {I.E. acn} company is expensive. You're up for a
> minimum of around $2000 a year in accountant fees, fees maintain the
> company name, annual returns etc. You don't HAVE to do it this way -
> but a lot fo contracting agencies still insist on it.
I don't deal with contracting agencies, but there's no way that Perl Training
Australia pays that much in accountant fees, company name and annual returns.
We pay ASIC their yearly fee (about $216 if I remember correctly) and whoever
manages business names their fee every 2 or 3 years (about $50).
We do our own tax returns (they're easier to do than the personal returns once
you've read through the handbook a few times) and our own BAS. We tried the
accountant thing, but found we wanted to be more in control of our business, and
they weren't earning their money.
If you choose to run as a company I do suggest getting an accountant to set up
the business for you though. It'll probably cost you $2500, and they'll quote
you $2000 a year for the above stuff; but be aware that if you're happy to keep
accurate financial records (record your receipts etc) then you should be able to
do everything else yourself.
For what it's worth we probably spend about 3 hours a month (maximum) entering
invoices and receipts into our accounting package, about 2 minutes a quarter
doing our BAS and maybe 1 hour a year doing the tax return.
> You've also got to consider that you have to run your own
> superannuation if you decide to go down the company route - and you do
> NOT want to fall behind or neglect it - APRA/Tax are ruthless about
> chasing super input - more so than chasing tax.
At least in Victoria this isn't quite so. We use the super funds that our
employees were already signed up with, and just deposit the money every quarter.
If you're keeping good records of the salaries paid out then it's not too hard
to make sure that the super goes out when it needs to. Running your own super
fund (if you have to/choose to go down that route definitely requires an
accountant however.
> The best advice I can give is find a damn good accountant - because
> you're going to need one.
I agree with this entirely. Whether you use the services of an accountant for
all of your business needs, or whether you do some things yourself; you should
definitely be friends with an accountant so that you can get them to sanity
check anything if you're concerned. They're also really good at helping you
decide if a company or trust or sole trader is the best option for you. Talk to
an accountant.
Perl Training Australia ran as a sole trader for several years and we had no
troubles whatsoever with either our consulting or training offerings. Getting a
business name isn't hard; so make sure you get one if you do go down the sole
trader route (it's easier, cheaper and easily converts into a company later).
All the best,
Jacinta
--
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_..`--'_..-_/ /--'_.' ,' | [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
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