Sole Trader Advice

[Anonymous]

I’m in the exciting situation that I’ll be earning my very first money from my game very soon.

I’ll be recieving my first payment from Admob of $170 and I’m earning around $15 daily now. So a bit of money will be coming in every month it seems.

It’s only me in my little game company and I’m of course not making all that much money, so I asume sole trader is the way to go. But there are a few things I’m unclear on and I was thinking that some people here have probably been down the sole trader path before and might be able to clarify a few things.

Do I have to register a business name with CRO? I use the name "Lonely Giant Games" on Google Play and on my homepage. And if I have to, how much will that cost?

What does it cost to register as a sole trader and is it imperative that I do it immediately to not get in trouble, or do I just have to do it sometime this year so I can pay taxes?

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

Congrats on your first earnings :D
I registered as Sole trader about a year ago. Now I’m not a legal or accounting professional so the best thing would be get advice from one.

In the process of registering as Sole trader you can register a trading name.It was not necessary to register a business name with the CRO.

There are pros and cons though.

Sole trader
Con
If you are making a game for ios you cannot use a trading name in the appstore.
You have to use your own name.

Legally you are personally liable if you get sued. unlikely as it may be.

Pro
Sole trader is not as complicated as registering a company. especially if it is only a small ammount of earnings for your first year.

Probably cost less in accounting fees. I think most people would recommend getting an accountant. :D

You can always register as a business later.When youre making the big bucks.

Thats how I generally understood it. But I’m learning as I go too.

[Anonymous]

I would also say don’t be afraid to ring and ask or visit your local registry/tax offices. The people I talked to were friendly and helpful.

[Anonymous]

Hi.
You don’t need to register a company in Ireland to conduct business as a sole-trader. Most people who work as contract programmers for example, earn money and pay taxes purely as a sole-trader and never incorporate as a limited company.
There are some advantages to forming a company but also several disadvantages such as overhead costs and legal requirements (see http://www.startups.ie/blog/index.php/sole-trader-vs-limited-company/) but generally for the amount of money you mention in your post, incorporation is probably a bit of overkill.
If you do decide to incorporate, it can be quite inexpensive (maybe a couple of hundred euro or less) using an accountant, or you can even submit to the CRO youself and save some money. Talk a look at http://www.mycompany.ie – I’ve used them and it worked very well for me.
Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

As someone burned by this in the past, I’ll give you the same advice I give everyone that asks this. Go and talk to an accountant. Honestly, there is so many more rules and loopholes that if you try and do it all yourself

A) you’ll lose tons of time you could be making games
B) you’ll probably lose money in the long run because you don’t know what to take advantage of.

If you know an accountant, get a feel from the situation from them first, if you don’t, I highly recommend speaking to your local enterprise board, just so they can give advice specific to your circumstances.

Finance world is a lot more complicated than you think :D

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the info guys. If I’m understanding you all correctly I don’t have to register a business name and from what I can see the Sole Trader thing doesn’t cost anything. I found that TR1 form you have to fill out to register, but yeah I think I’d like some more advice from someone who knows all the legal stuff. I’ll try and set up an appointment with the Enterprise Board. Thanks for mentioning that.

As for the whole Incorporating thing I think I’ll be fine with the Sole Trader thing. I’m not borrowing any money and I’m not planning on expanding.

[Anonymous]

I just wanted to throw in a little update. I’ve been at a meeting with the Dublin City Enterprise Board today and I got a bunch of great information and I’ll be going ahead and registering soon.

I had such a nice meeting down there and it really got be pumped to get my company up and running as a full time thing. Thanks so much for mentioning it RedXIV.

[Anonymous]

No worries chief! Glad its going so well for you!

When you’re a multimillionaire development studio, feel free to send me a cheque :D

[Anonymous]

Congrats, keep us posted :)

[Author]

Posts