How to register a second self-employed business

How to register a second self-employed business

It’s very common that an individual who is self-employed will want to setup a second business that is completely separate to their current self-employed business.

But how do you go about registering the new business with the HMRC? Well the answer is…you don’t! As long as the following criteria are met then you do not have to formally register your second business with the HMRC:

1. You are already registered as self-employed with HMRC
2. The new business you’re setting up is not a Limited Company
3. The new business is going to be run as a self-employment business

So if you meet all the above criteria then happy days my friend, you don’t need to do anything in regards to registering the new business! Just be sure to make a personal note of the day the business started so you know for future reference.

The only thing that changes with your new business is when it comes time to fill in your Self-Assessment Tax Return. You will need to complete 1 x self-assessment tax return form where it asks ‘how many self employments have you had’ simply put in ‘2’ and complete a separate ‘Self Assessment: Self-Employment form’ for each business that you run and fill in the relevant income/expenses etc associated with that business. Or if you complete your tax return online then it’s simply a case of filling in the individual boxes allocated for ‘Self-Employment 1’, ‘Self-Employment 2’ and so on.

The main point to note here is that you must keep separate accounts for income, expenses, profit, loss etc for each individual business that you run. Please don’t fall into the trap of using the same account for both businesses for simplicity, ensure to run them as separate business entities. Otherwise at year end it will be extremely confusing trying to figure out which figures are associated to which business and if you are ever audited by the HMRC you could be penalised for not running and keeping up-to-date accounts. It’s just something to bear in mind, this may not apply to you personally but trust me – I’ve seen it happen!

So just conclude briefly: if you are already self-employed and are simply setting up another self-employed business then you do not have to register that new business with HMRC. You simply need to ensure you keep the two business accounts separate so you know the exact figures in order to successfully complete your end of year self-assessment tax return. Simple as that!