Stop talking out your backside Joe. I turned over above 50k in my first year of trading. Turnover is meaningless though, you can turn that over in one job, its the profit that counts.
Fattony, as has been said get a decent accountant. My wife is one and for what its worth her advice is basically become a ltd company. Why because of the following:-
The company is the legal identity and therefore you are not at risk for its debts as you would be as a sole trader, although if it goes wrong you can be barred as a company director etc. You can set up and register a company for about £50, there are companies that do all the paperwork for you, and many accountants will allow you to use their address as the registered office address for the compan.
Most suppliers will prefer to deal with a limited company, although many will ask for you as a director to underwrite any liability.
The biggest reason though is the tax breaks. You are an employee of the company, which means you draw a salary up to the tax threshold. After that you take out dividends. Allthe companies earnings are taxable at 19% as corporation tax, rather than your personal tax rate as a sole trader. You wont pay national insurance on any earnings either. So would you prefer to pay 19% to the government (of course less any expenses) or your nice hefty personal and ni rate to them? You can draw down dividends from the company whenever you want, there nothing complicated about it at all. Ive paid an absolute pittance in tax since we set the company up, basically because of decent accounting
There are a lot more items that can be claimed for as a company as opposed to a sole trader which means you can bring your tax bill down. eg directors meetings (make your wife the company secretary and you can claim a meal once a month!)
As you effectivly earn the threshold limit (cant remember exact figure but around 5000) it means that this will only count for income on things like tax credit etc so you will receive more from the government through that scheme as well
A decent accountant and bookeeper are worth their weight in gold and will make life easy for you.
There are plenty of government websites etc that will also give you advice, as will your business bank manager. Its worth going to see one, theyll sort you out with free banking and give advice. If your not borrowing monet etc you dont need to start worrying about business plans etc for them. This site is worth a look
http://www.startups.co.uk/
In reality if you already have a trade, some contacts etc then there is nothing to be afraid of. Just keep all documentation and deal with each aspect step by step. Youll be amazed how many suppliers, customers etc will give you a break when you let them know your going out on your own.
Nige F in answer to your question all accounts from limited companies are availiable to view at companies house or on their website
Good luck
