Stefan Töpfer
CEO & Chairman of WinWeb
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I'm passionate about very small business, it's positive impact on personal lives and for local communities. Reducing small business failure is my aim and
that of WinWeb's services.







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Q & A: What Is A Sole Trader?




A sole trader is totally responsible for the small business in every aspect. You take all the profits and benefits from the small business, at the same time you are totally liable for any debts incurred in your small business, not being paid by your customers is not a defense. This liability includes all your personal belongings, your house and all it’s contents, talk to your partner about this, it will effect him/her too.

Being a sole-trader does not mean you work alone, some sole-traders employ other people. Again you would be totally liable for paying wages, insurance, etc.

Many small businesses start out as sole-traders and then change in a different for like a LLC (US) or Limited Company (UK). Maybe a trip to an accountant, for a free (always think bootstrapping) consultation would be in order, these guys can tell you all the in’s and out’s of your choice. ST.

Disclaimer: As with any of my readers questions, I do not have all the answers and here on my blog I can only give you some ideas, since I know very little about your small business. If any of you can add anything here do so for the benefit of my reader, who asked the question and everybody else, leave a comment below - I’d be most grateful.

« Q & A: Can I be a sole-trader while still being employed?
Ethics And Small Business »



This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 9:26 am and is filed under Suppliers, Question & Answer, Sole-Trader, start-up in business, Small Business / SOHO, Accountants/CPAs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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4 Responses to “Q & A: What Is A Sole Trader?”

  1. Nadine

    Said on November 26th, 2007 at 6:53 pm

    hello, What is the diffference between a plc and a sole trader…

    thank you
    hope to hear from you soon…

    Nadine

  2. Stefan Töpfer
    http://www.winweb.com

    Said on November 26th, 2007 at 8:53 pm

    Nadine,

    A PLC is a public limited company, often traded on the stock exchange and belongs to the share holders.

    So it’s quite different from the sole trader, much more expensive to set up and run. There are many more differences, too numerous to mention here.

    Stefan

  3. Stock Market Software
    http://www.stocktradingsoftwarereviews.org

    Said on May 20th, 2008 at 5:00 pm

    I believe in north american we call them “Sole Proprietorships”

  4. HASNAIN

    Said on September 22nd, 2008 at 10:00 am

    what is a sole trader

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