Scottish Partnership

In Scotland the partnership (or firm) is a legal personality distinct from the persons who are the partners.

Advantages

• The profit after expenses is all yours
• You are responsible for your own income tax
• The partnership is a separate legal person and can be sued in its own right.
• The reporting requirements are less onerous than those for a Limited Company

Disadvantages

• You are responsible for your share of all business losses
• You can still be liable for partnership debts
• The partnership property, for example land and buildings, is owned by all the partners jointly

Start Up

Choose a Nominated Partner, who is responsible for

• keeping business records and managing tax returns.
• Registering the firm for partnership
• Registering the firm for VAT if sales in the year are anticipated to be more than the prevailing threshold (refer to Some Information page for current registration level)
• Registering with HMRC as an employer, if you intend to employ staff
• Each partner must register with HMRC for self employment and Class 2 NIC as soon as practicable after starting your business. Late registration can result in a penalty charge.

We will attend to all these registrations for you, leaving you free to concentrate on running your business.

Tax

The Nominated Partner must

• submit a Partnership Self Assessment tax return every year
• submit a VAT return every 3 months and pay the VAT owed, if the firm is VAT registered.
• submit a Full Payment Submission before every payroll payment if the firm employs staff.

Each individual partner must

• Submit their own Self Assessment tax return and pay tax and Class 4 National Insurance on their share of the partnership profits

We provide a comprehensive service to deal with all these matters for you.

For more information refer to our Accountancy Services and Tax Compliance pages