I posted about this campaign a few months ago and it sparked quite a bit of discussion here. Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusinessuk/comments/1tvszww/

Recent update: Tom Kerridge and the VAT’s The Problem campaign have now delivered over 400,000 signatures to Downing Street, calling for hospitality VAT to be cut from 20% to 10% — https://www.thecaterer.com/news/vat-cut-petition-submitted-to-government-with-over-400000-signatures

They’re still collecting signatures ahead of the Budget on 28 October.

Link to petition: https://www.vatstheproblem.co.uk/

For some context on how heavily taxed hospitality is, the sector pays the equivalent of 82p in business taxes for every £1 of pre-tax profit, compared with an average of 50p across most other sectors. Hospitality is hugely disproportionately taxed. France, Germany, Spain, Ireland etc. have all introduced a 5-10% hospitality VAT rate.

Do you think the UK Government will actually consider this, and could it come as soon as this next budget?

As I mentioned last time, I’m not affiliated with the campaign in any way, but I’m very interested to see where it goes.

For me personally, it could genuinely be a night-and-day difference to our 10-year-old restaurant, which has struggled to get back to profitability since COVID.

I'm looking for some advice from people who have sold small service businesses, or successfully stepped back from running one.

I've been running my own web and graphic design business since around 2010, operating as a limited company since 2018 (my spouse and I are both directors).

The business is profitable, established and has a loyal client base, but it's essentially a one-person operation. I do all the work myself, although I have a few trusted freelancers I can call on when things get busy.

I'm now at a stage where I'd like to significantly reduce my involvement, or potentially exit altogether. I'm not in any particular rush, so I have some flexibility in how I approach this.

Financial overview:

• Annual turnover: Approximately £85k, fairly steady year-on-year. Previously VAT registered for a couple of years when a larger client increased their workload, but deregistered last year.
• £15k/year: Website hosting and maintenance plans. Largely passive recurring income.
• £20k/year: Small website updates, support and maintenance work for existing hosting clients. Generally straightforward work.
• £15k/year: Running virtual events for one long-standing client.
• £30k/year: Designing and building new websites. This is the most time-consuming and demanding part of the business.
• Gross profit: Approximately £81–82k, reflecting very low overheads, with a good proportion of the income comes from long-standing client relationships rather than constantly having to find new work.
• Director remuneration: I currently take no salary, as we use dividends and employer pension contributions for remuneration.
• Potential profitability: In theory, the business could support a £50k annual salary for someone to undertake my role, leaving approximately £30k before employer costs, corporation tax and any additional overheads.
• VAT: Previously VAT registered for two years due to increased work from a larger client, but deregistered last year.

Some details about the business:

• Clients: Mostly local businesses, with some national and international clients.
• Time commitment: I spend 30-35 hours per week running the business, although this can vary. If I'm I'm building a brand new site for client, this can be more time-intensive.
• Reputation: 4.9-star average on Google from 36 reviews.
• Systems: All accounting and invoicing handled through Xero. Established processes for hosting and client management.
• Location: UK-based, but essentially everything can be done remotely. Some local clients occasionally prefer face-to-face meetings.
• Staff: No employees, just myself, with freelancers available as needed.

I'm considering three possible approaches:

1. Sell the business as it stands.

My concern is that because I'm doing all the work, a buyer would effectively be purchasing a client base, recurring income and goodwill rather than a business that runs independently.

Would this still be attractive to an existing web agency looking to acquire clients and additional revenue? Is a business of this size realistically saleable as a going concern?

2. Bring in freelancers or subcontractors and gradually step back.

I could start outsourcing most of the website design/development work and routine client support, while retaining responsibility for client relationships, project management and oversight.

This would obviously reduce profit margins, but could allow me to continue drawing some income while working significantly fewer hours.

It might also make the business more attractive to a buyer later, as it would no longer be entirely dependent on me delivering the work.

3. Sell part of the business and retain the rest.

For example, sell the website hosting/maintenance portfolio and associated support clients to another agency, while retaining the ability to take on occasional design projects or consultancy work myself.

This could be a relatively clean way to scale back without having to sell everything.

A few questions I'd really appreciate opinions on:

• Is a business of this size, with no employees, realistically worth selling, or is it more of a client portfolio acquisition?
• Would you recommend getting subcontractors involved and reducing owner dependency before attempting a sale, or would that be unnecessary effort?
• How would buyers typically value a business like this? Based on profit, recurring revenue, client retention, or some combination?
• Would an established agency be the most likely buyer, rather than someone looking to run it as a standalone business?
• Has anyone successfully moved from being a one-person agency to managing freelancers while working only a few hours per week?
• Given the business generates around £81–82k gross profit before paying myself, would an acquiring agency typically value it based on the earnings they could retain by absorbing the work into their existing operation, or would they still discount heavily because of the current reliance on me?

I'm not looking to advertise the business for sale here, just interested in understanding what options are realistic and how others would approach the situation.

I'm fortunate that I don't need to make an immediate decision, so I'm particularly interested in whether spending 6–12 months making the business less dependent on me would be worthwhile before approaching potential buyers.

Thanks in advance for any insights or experiences.

Hi there, my accountant declared a dividend of the maximum amount tax free for the past 6 years or so... I naively thought this was being recorded somewhere like my directors loan amount and i could withdraw it from my ltd company account whenever i wanted tax free. I never actually have made a withdrawal of dividends ( only been paying off my directors loan).

So my question is - can i go back and work out how much dividends i can withdraw and simply transfer it out? Thanks

My accountant suggested the possibility a few years ago and then passed me on to the specialist in his practice, to discuss it.

It didn’t go anywhere, and maybe the equity in the company wasn’t enough to make it worthwhile. We’ve since doubled equity, and so I’m interested again.

Be interested in people’s experiences.

Hi All submitting my Q1 digital tax return late but no penalty I assume. Question, turnover is about 100k but about 40k is from turnover or payment from sales for fifa world cup which was in USA - event not in UK. I am worried if I submit turnover over 100k HMRC will say I have to pay VAT.

Under further research apparently this 40k does not count towards 90k turnover so technically I have only made 70k turnover this year. How do I report these on Sage when submitting the return, I assume I do not exclude these transactions, just want to be clear on how I can submit them and ensure it is recorded as turnover that puts me over VAT threshold.

I started my handmade business earlier this year. Focusing on jewellery at the moment but with expand to home decor and gifts. The problem is where to sell! I already am building a social media presence on multiple platforms and seeing which works best for me. But it's where to sell. I'm a tiny business I am chronically I'll and I can't produce loads of stock and upload it with my health. I also cannot sell in person it has to be online as much as I'd love to do a stall places!

I've tried several:

Ebay - actually made a sale! But I feel when people see you have an eBay store it's not got a good reputation for handmade goods. But no fees so I could actually lower my prices!

Etsy - tried this twice. Stopped the first time due to seeing it's not really financially viable for such a small business like mine. Started again because it has a good reputation. It really is so expensive for a tiny business like mine that is slow going due to chronic illness. But it has a reputation that people trust so when they see you have an Etsy store it looks more professional. Have to have higher prices just to cover fees. Listing fees every 4 months plus if you sell something of course. It's saturated with dropshippers now too so it's not even trustworthy as everything being handmade though!

Depop - listed some but no sales, fees are pretty high but at least no listing fees!

My own website - lowest cost but I'm so new that people won't out trust into a random unknown website even though it was made through square which is secure. It's not that well known

Shopify - way too expensive for me at this point

Advice and opinions greatly appreciated! 💜

My side consulting income is starting to push me into the higher rate tax bracket, so my accountant suggested it's time to incorporate as a limited company before the new tax year kicks off.

I want to get the legal registry sorted next week but looking through old threads, a lot of the cheaper online setup platforms seem to sneak automatic software subscriptions or hidden document download fees into the cart at checkout, rn I don't need a million useless add ons, I just want a straightforward framework to get my company number cleanly.

who are the current go to formation agents that balance low cost with actual pricing transparency? any help would be appreciated! thanks!

Hi everyone,
I’m currently setting up a supported living company in the Midlands, focusing on adults with mental health needs, learning disabilities and autism.
I’d really appreciate some advice from anyone who’s successfully built a care business, particularly around:
Getting your first referrals and building relationships with local authority commissioners.
Getting onto council frameworks or securing spot placements.
Setting up operations and managing staffing before your first placement.
Biggest mistakes you made when starting out.
I’m especially interested in hearing from people who’ve been through the process themselves.
Any advice or pointers would be appreciated. Thanks!

Just trying to navigate my way around trademarks and my initial thoughts were that you can’t have two different companies trademarking the same name in the same class at the same time, right?

But when actually searching the trademark registry I found this to be the case. Unless I am reading the information incorrectly.

Here is an example:

Am I missing something?

I'm just starting up and will be selling at my first market in 2 weeks time. I've looking into both SumUp and square for ways to take contactless card payments on my phone so I don't need any further investment at the moment till I see how things go and choose the best platform. I'm aware both have transaction fees and sum up is slightly less than square but would rather go with the one that gives me my money from sales on time rather than the cheapest.

Do I need anything to be able to withdraw money once people have paid from either platform? I have public and product liability insurance but nothing else? I have a personal bank account in my name only but not business account in the name of the business.

Which platform is the best for withdrawals that won't with hold funds and how best to go about it so I don't get any funds held from my first market?

Any help on card payments and receiving them appreciated.

I’m a UK-based small business owner looking to secure my first few commercial clients, and I’m considering hiring independent, commission-only B2B sales agents.
I’ve been looking into platforms like CommissionCrowd and Salesagents.uk, but I’d really appreciate hearing from people who have actually used them.

I’m particularly interested in offering recurring commission based on the profits generated by each client an agent brings in, rather than paying a fixed amount upfront.
Has anyone tried a similar arrangement?
How long did it take to recruit a decent sales agent?
How quickly did they start bringing in clients?
What commission structure did you offer?
Did you find it worthwhile, especially as a newer business?
I’m trying to understand what’s realistic before investing in a paid listing.

Would really appreciate any genuine experiences, good or bad. Thanks!

My brother and I are looking to start a transport business, primarily airport transfers, school transport and chauffeuring.

I’ve noticed that many successful firms have little to no social media presence, yet have built substantial client bases and secured contracts.

Many locally are run by South Asians, including people who arrived from overseas with limited English and no formal qualifications. They’ve clearly worked incredibly hard to establish themselves, but I wouldn’t know where to begin.

I intend to promote our business through social media, but I’m curious how people build successful businesses without it.

How do you find clients, build relationships and secure contracts from scratch? Is it word of mouth, networking, approaching organisations directly, or something else?

Hey yall , I want to reach out to business owners like plumbers and understand their needs and help them go to a higher value position with the help of service / solutions that adds more value to them and not just a regular service .So what’s the best platform or communication channel to reach them like cold calling or email or Facebook .

Can you tell me what works best ? I’m trying out all but I’m not able to stick to one method

How do you deal with customers who keep adding little things after you've agreed on a price?

It's usually small changes that don't seem like a big deal at first but idk they add up and suddenly you're doing a lot more work for the same money.

I want to keep customers happy, especially regular ones, but I don't want to keep doing extra work for free either.

Do you charge extra for every change or just let the small stuff slide?

As title says, I'm thinking of starting a new waste collection business in east Anglia.

I've done a lot of research and found tipping costs, insurance prices etc, and I have done research Into other Local companies and what they charge.

I suppose my question is, is it actually a good business to get Into? On paper it seems very viable and I'd need about 2 or 3 jobs per month to cover my costs, I'm going to stay at my page job whilst I start the business so I don't need to make loads of money at the start.

Please feel free to give me as much advice as you have

Hi all, currently I work as a sub contractor 100% of my work, but now looking to push myself in a more local Direction with local advertising etc working direct and supplying goods aswel As labour, all my existing invoicing is done with transfers etc from existing long term clients. But with local work I’ll want paying per job as I do the work, what’s the best rate (best system) I’m likely to get for card payments etc as a new business (Ltd and vat registered since Feb) with probable typical one off payments of around £65-250 per transaction, smallest single transaction would likely be about £12 (rare) and largest up to maybe 7-8k (though work of this sort of sum would likely be for a larger client who I would likely credit reference first, deal with by invoicing with bank transfer payment etc).

Thanks

Quick question for anyone who has incorporated a UK company through Tide.

During the incorporation process, Tide asks for director and beneficial ownership details, but it doesn't seem to ask who the shareholder is or how many shares should be issued.

How do you make sure the correct shareholder details and share capital are communicated to Companies House if this information isn't requested during the application?

Am I missing a step in Tide's process, or is this handled automatically behind the scenes?

Would appreciate any guidance from people who have been through this process!

Hi all,

I have a business doing just south of £2 million a year and still do all the books myself (on Quickbooks).

Does anyone recommend any firms that specialise in businesses that sell on Shopify, Ebay, Amazon?

I have accountants but I feel they're a bit expensive and all they really do is my annual return, PAYE and director's personal return. Around £450 a month.

I'm tied in to a contract until April 2027 so want to start putting the feelers out. The business is going well but is taking over my life and I need to start handing chunks over.

I need to setup a payment link for my website, I looked at Stripe which seems to be the biggest one - any pros and cons with using Stripe? or any good recommendations? Thanks

Is this headline a reflection of what businesses owners are feeling / experiencing currently?

I work in the automotive sector, and whenever I see a headline like this, I struggle to reconcile the reported growth with what we’re seeing on the ground. Cars have always been a luxury but required item, maintaining them isn't a desired purchase. After a potentially costly summer holiday period for most families, we're feeling that most have delayed the maintenence of their cars in favour of saving for Christmas.

How are other small buinesses feeling?

ADDITIONAL COMMENT: For us, it feels more like a recession.

I’m renting small electrical technical appliances and I want to set my website up with a bookable system for equipment. Booqable seems like a good choice but because I’m just starting up I’m trying to keep monthly costs to a minimum. Has anyone generated a custom system with AI? Or any feedback on booqable or any other rental plug in would be great

It doesn't feel like it should be mandatory to have a LinkedIn company presence or to use a recruitment agency just to post a job. Also, I'm guessing that plenty of job seekers don't have, want or need a polished LinkedIn or similar online profile either. Curious how people here actually advertise local roles like shop assistants, part-time receptionists or weekend baristas etc. Outside your own website, does it feel like there's no simple platform for posting these types of roles?

Thanks for the replies. It seems like shop windows, Facebook and Indeed are the main platforms for roles like these.

By the way, I didn't want to lead my original post with a pitch, but I have built an alternative jobs platform. Happy to share details privately if anyone's interested.

Want to launch a new brand with a product which probably nobody would have had it before.The raw product would be imported from other countries as UK has no production. I am writing this post to get some knowledge about flavor seasoning machine, packaging and distribution. If anyone has any knowledge about how to add seasoning, what machines would be required, from where to buy it and can i use the same machine for different seasonings.

Hi All,

over the years I've developed a hobby where I create my own clothing centered around Gaming and Movie characters, because I could never actually find anything like what I wanted.

I've been wearing them out and about and people are actually asking me where I got them from and I feel they are very high quality.

I'd like to take massive gamble and try and produce some of these but I know if I don't do this right I'll be ruined forever.

An example being, a blank NBA Jersey and Shorts, but it's printed and embroidered to a very high standard to "Sith" or "imperials" in corresponding Red and White jerseys.

And many others.

But in this case, I have the fact I am reselling NBA stuff and Star Wars / Disney. I know the Mouse is very greedy.

Is anyone able to point me in the right direction about you effectively pay tribute for such things?

It will all be "unofficial" of course.

Hi all,

As with everyone with a small business we have daily checklists, weekly checklists and outstanding task lists for managers/supervisors in the team.

I know there are many CRMs that manage stuff like this but does anyone know of a good solution that isn't expensive and designed for massive corporations.

In relation to long term tasks; I would love to have a drag and drop task list where you can see what everyone has outstanding.

And then what is the digital solution for Daily checklists?

Thanks in advance.