Ask HN: How do you take money for side project without forming a company

winkv · 2017-03-20T18:14:52.000Z

Non US developers how do you charge money for your side project (saas/app/web) without creating a company.

mattmanser 9 years ago |

UK you can be a sole trader, basically a person acting as a business. I believe there are some rules about how you legally present yourself (like in your contracts your name has to be "Bob Smith trading as Acme Widgets").

https://www.gov.uk/set-up-sole-trader

However, as the page says, you're personally liable if something went seriously wrong.

The alternative is to pay £50 to register as a ltd company, though there are costs in running one (£12.50 per year + doing your own accounts vs paying an accountant £200-£300).

erik998 9 years ago |

In the US you can use a fictitious name dba "doing business as" name. You can also open up a bank account using a dba name. You may need to file taxes as a sole proprietor.

https://www.sba.gov/starting-business/choose-register-your-b...

I think this is called a "trade name" in other countries. Wikipedia has some examples for other countries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_name

LeonPals 9 years ago |

In the Netherlands, there is a threshold, and you do not have to incorporate if you stay under that, and you'll still have to report it. But this obviously depends on the country you're in.

Paypal could be a good way to take money from people privately, and it's probably entirely legal, up to a certain point.

aartur 9 years ago | |

> In the Netherlands, there is a threshold, and you do not have to incorporate

But you still have to register some form of sole-proprietorship company?

LeonPals 9 years ago | | |

Nope, you take it as a private person, and when you submit your income taxes you state it as extra income.

aartur 9 years ago | | |

Even when you are selling SaaS (so it's a "service")?

I think you can have problems with payment processing companies as they might not want to make business with a private person.

LeonPals 9 years ago | | |

True, but if you're going to SaaS, why would you not incorporate?

Of course there are downsides, you will look a lot less professional without a KvK or Chambers of Commerce number.

But if you want to look professional, you need to incorporate

aartur 9 years ago |

Not sure how general this is, but in Poland if you have SaaS you need to have a company (because it's a "service"). But when you are selling just source code to someone else, it can be counted as personal income (no company needed).