The Nail School

Find your local Council offices. Your local council will be able to help you in many ways with advice with your new business. Some councils will require you to registar with them. If you are running a business from home be aware that permissions may be needed from them, also using part of your home may make you liable for business rates!

The following link will take you to where you can find your local office. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/Localcouncils/index.htm

No smoking ban. It is now against the law to smoke in business premises. If you use part of your home to do clients nails, this has to be a NO SMOKING area and should carry all the relevant signage etc. I am sure that you would not smoke during a nail session for obvious reasons but the smell of smoke hangs around and non smokers may be put off as clients.

Follow the link below for the offical handbook about the smoking ban. http://www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/files/everything_u_need_new_sf_law.pdf

Starting a new business. There are many things to consider when you start up a new business. The Inland Revenue is one you should not avoid! There is nothing to be scared of when dealing with the inland revenue, they have taken a new friendly tone with queries from new starters and you will find them very helpful. If you do not register within the first three months of self-employment, you may have to pay an initial penalty. The link below will tell you all you need to know from HM Revenue & Customs. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/businesses/tmastarting-up-in-business.shtml

Do I need to get an accountant? Doing your self assesment is quite easy online and you will find the staff at HM Revenue and Customs really helpful if you are not sure what to do. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/index.htm If you do decide to use an accountant get some quotes before you decide, if you are in the West Midlands area I can reccomend Pride Accountants.Tel: 01384 457 200.

Keep all your reciepts for products. set-up costs, petrol used etc. there are so many things you can claim for as expenses, even down to part of your home as a work area.

V.A.T Registration. You do not need to register for V.A.T. untill you business tsales are £68,000 at this point you may registar on a voluntary basis. As a nail technician working self employed it is unlikely you will reach the limit to where you need to registar. Some people who start up new businesses think that it is to there advantage to register straight away, for a small business this is not a good idea, you need to be competitive with other technicians and if you have to charge VAT it will come right off your bottom line profit. For example you can claim back vat on £1.20 the cost of the product used, but will pay VAT on £25 the cost of the nails to your client. My advice is to wait until you are going to reach the limit which you wont unless you open your own salon employing http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/VAT/index.htm