Starting a business at 14

startup as a sole trader and then get bigger.CAUSE starting as a "limited" is very expensive

Hi everyoneMy name is alex (female) from the UK and I am looking to start a business. My problem is I think I'm to young to start a limited company on my own so how would I go about this. I want to know how old do i need to be to have my company registered with HMRC as a limited company.I think it's 16? If so my mother could run it for around 2 years until I turn 16. ( will it affect her claiming benefits as she currently doesn't have a job).So I need someone to be a limited company for me for 2 years until I turn to the legal age. I hope someone can guide me in the right direction. Please ask for more details Alex xx

startup as a sole trader and then get bigger.CAUSE starting as a "limited" is very expensive

No it isn't. It costs £12!


You don't need to set up a limited company to trade. And you don't register your company with HMRC - it would be Companies House. Finally, the age of majority is 18, not 16.

However, the problem is that you cannot sign contracts, nor open a business bank account whilst you are a minor. This effectively prevents you from 'starting a business' as such. It rather depends on what your business idea is. For instance, if it's garden maintenance or something cash-in-hand, then there's nothing really to stop you.

I understand about the contracts and how I wouldn't be able to sign them. So what do you think the best option for me would be as I've already started creating an online store with shopify and with the legal side of things I don't really understand x
Thanks for your time❤️

I'm not sure about Shopify's T&Cs, but you probably need to be 18 to open a business account with them. Essentially, you can't operate a business in your name only if you're under 18 in any 'official' capacity, but you can buy and sell via sites like eBay etc, conduct business face-to-face (like gardening etc) and generally trade. Does that make sense?

Yes it does. Thank you so much