big soft moose
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I'm with phill , some people are vastly over complicating this. I'd suggest the OP forget all the noise about VAT and limited companies etc and just set up as a sole trader.
As his PAYE will already have absorbed his taxable allowance on the £18k from his day job, the tax will be 20% on profit
So oif his turnover is £10k , and he has say £4k in costs set against a pretax income (plucking that figure out of the air) then he'll pay 20% on 6k = £1500 tax. (it is prefectly viable to run this through your own bank account but I'd tend to suggest that at a minimum you put the money to pay your tax bill somewhere else so you don't spend it accidentally)
HMRC will also want NI if his profits exceed £5885 they'll want class 2 ( £2.75 per week) and if they exceed £7996 they'll also want class 4, 9% of everything between £7996 and £41,865 (and 2% of anything over 41,865). Chances are on a turnover of 10k proffit will be below class 4, and might be below class 2 depending what your cosrs are like.
Speakto an accountant asap - a good one will give you the same advice Phil and I have - but you are more likely to take it if you get it from someone who's paid to know what they are talking about rather than random blokes on a forum (and the accountancy fee will be an expense deductable from your first years income) - alternately your bank probably has a small business adviser.
Regarding trading names as a sole trader you can call your business anything you like (within reason and not falling foul of passing off etc) but your tax return will be in your name. If you want customers to be able to write cheques to the business name you need a business bank account (if you arent bothered and increasingly people arent writing cheques anyway so you might not be) you could run it through your current account, or through a second bank account in your own name (as i said its wise to keep the money to pay your tax bill in a seperate account so you've got it when you need it)
@^Joe (who is an accountant) did a really good excel sheet for people in your position to keep track of costs, a cuple of years back - so you might want to drop him a pm and see if he'll send you a copy
As his PAYE will already have absorbed his taxable allowance on the £18k from his day job, the tax will be 20% on profit
So oif his turnover is £10k , and he has say £4k in costs set against a pretax income (plucking that figure out of the air) then he'll pay 20% on 6k = £1500 tax. (it is prefectly viable to run this through your own bank account but I'd tend to suggest that at a minimum you put the money to pay your tax bill somewhere else so you don't spend it accidentally)
HMRC will also want NI if his profits exceed £5885 they'll want class 2 ( £2.75 per week) and if they exceed £7996 they'll also want class 4, 9% of everything between £7996 and £41,865 (and 2% of anything over 41,865). Chances are on a turnover of 10k proffit will be below class 4, and might be below class 2 depending what your cosrs are like.
Speakto an accountant asap - a good one will give you the same advice Phil and I have - but you are more likely to take it if you get it from someone who's paid to know what they are talking about rather than random blokes on a forum (and the accountancy fee will be an expense deductable from your first years income) - alternately your bank probably has a small business adviser.
Regarding trading names as a sole trader you can call your business anything you like (within reason and not falling foul of passing off etc) but your tax return will be in your name. If you want customers to be able to write cheques to the business name you need a business bank account (if you arent bothered and increasingly people arent writing cheques anyway so you might not be) you could run it through your current account, or through a second bank account in your own name (as i said its wise to keep the money to pay your tax bill in a seperate account so you've got it when you need it)
@^Joe (who is an accountant) did a really good excel sheet for people in your position to keep track of costs, a cuple of years back - so you might want to drop him a pm and see if he'll send you a copy
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