You must decide on your trading structure – eg whether to trade as a sole-trader or a limited company (if the latter, you must make it clear to your customers that you are trading as a limited company). I’ve blogged previously on the advantages and disadvantages of trading as a limited company.
You must register for VAT once you exceed the VAT threshold (you may register voluntarily sooner than this). If you are selling to private individuals or unregistered customers, bear in mind the impact on your pricing strategy – effectively, you will be raising your prices by the VAT amount.
Remember that artificial separation of trades to avoid VAT registration is not allowed. HMRC are aware of all the tricks and if they suspect you are doing this, there will be penalties.
If you are working from home, remember that you will be able to claim some home-expenses against tax. See the earlier series of blogs on “working from home” expenses.
