OUGD502 - Taking Care of Business - Researching Partnerships

It is important that we all research the various types of businesses that our group could potentially develop into for this brief. As there are five members in the group, we decided to each choose a type to research individually to then share the information with as a collective. 

I chose to allocate myself the area of business 'partnerships' to research. I began by looking on-line for context and basic information. I first found a very simple definition for the term partnership: "A partnership is a business organization in which two or more individuals manage and operate the business. Both/all the owners are equally and personally liable for the debts from the business"

I then went to Gov.uk first, as I thought that this would be the place containing the most reliable and legitimate information. Here is hat I found:

In a business partnership, you and your business partner (or partners) personally share responsibility for your business. You can share all your business’s profits between the partners. Each partner pays tax on their share of the profits.

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

1. Set up the partnership

• choose a name

• choose a ‘nominated partner’

• register with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

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).

Setting up

When you set up a business partnership you need to:

• Chose a name
• Choose a nominated partner
• Register with HM Revenues and Customs
• The ‘nominated partner’ is responsible for managing the partnership’s tax returns and keeping business records.
• Register for self assessment and VAT
• Register for tax
• Report and changes to the partnership (if a partner leaves, goes bankrupt, becomes seriously ill or dies)
• Report changes in name, address and nominated partner

This type of business agreement does sound like it would work for my group, but we will obviously need to discuss the other models before settling on one. I am not sure whether we will all want to be equally liable and responsible for the success of the organisation in terms of money/productivity. A number of small start ups today begin as partnerships, from what I can see, this is a good route into the market, but I am not sure if a partnership agreement would necessarily be the best option for five people, because that is quite a large number.