OUGD502: Study Task 1 - Business types: Research and Conclusion

OUGD502 Study Task 1 - Taking Care of Business 

Business types - Research and Conclusion

As a collective we distributed different business types to research, I was given an 'ordinary business partnership' to research. From this topic I uncovered that in an ordinary business partnership, you and your business partner (or partners) personally share responsibility for your business. It was further identified that you can share all your business’s profits between the partners. Each partner pays tax on their share of the profits.

The serious stuff included: 

Legal responsibilities

You’re personally responsible for your share of:

• any losses your business makes
• bills for things you buy for your business, like stock or equipment

You can set up a limited partnership or limited liability partnership if you don’t want to be personally responsible for a business’ losses.

A partner doesn’t have to be an actual person. For example, a limited company counts as a ‘legal person’, and can also be a partner in a partnership.

You must choose a name for your partnership and register it with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Tax responsibilities

The nominated partner must send a partnership Self Assessment tax return every year.

All the partners must:

• send a personal Self Assessment tax return every year
• pay Income Tax on their share of the partnership’s profits
• pay National Insurance 

The partnership will also have to register for VAT if you expect its takings to be more than £82,000 a year.

From this research I concluded that this would probably not be the most appropriate business type for our company as coming straight from university we would not have significant capital to invest and feel it would be bit risky being personally responsible for the business with no real business experience. The fact we are legally responsible for any losses or bills re-assures me that this would not be a viable business option for the group. 

CONCLUSION: 
We reconvened and presented our business types to one another. From this we as a group concluded that the most appropriate business type for are concept/business was a ..........