Starting out....

[mo2006]

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Hi all,

I'm new to affiliate marketing so please excuse what may be pretty basic questions! IAs a bit of background, I'm trying to drive traffic to my own site www.theparentroom.co.uk but am also trying PPC campaigns as well. This all started as a bit of an experiment and is starting to grow to a point where I really need some advice. It's been fun so far but I can see it might get complicated soon!

The question I have is I'm not sure if I should set up a business and get proper business accounts along with an accountant. I'm also confused how the tax and VAT situation works. Google are charging VAT on my campaigns so is there any way to claim it back? Do I have to be VAT registered? Do I have to reach a certain level of turnover before I can register? Do you only get taxed on the profit you make? Or on the revenue?

Thanks in advance - any advice will be very appreciated!

Thanks

Mark

[globalart4u]

to claim vat back you need to be registered for vat, but there is a lot of regular paperwork to be done for this every quarter. you do not need to make a certain amount to reclaim vat. Vat is reclaimed from goods you buy and vat is given to the vatman from the goods you sell so if you buy something for £10 + vat you can claim this but if you sell the same goods for £20 + vat then this vat must be given to the vatman. hope this helps
http://www.macintyrehudson.co.uk/con...tup/limco.html

[seekituk]

Hi Mark,

Great looking site by the way !!

I think you have to register a new business within 3 months of starting up. You can register for VAT at any time but I believe you MUST register if your annual turnover is more than £60,000.

Hope this helps

Regards

Jason

[hrbs]

Hi Mark,

As an accountant I would strongly recommend that you find one with online/AM knowledge to help you in the first months of trading and give you a strong foundation for your business. I have a number of clients on this forum who have been in your shoes and have valued the opportunity to have an experienced hand guide them through the early stages of their business, whilst they concentrate on developing the business.

If you would like to PM me with further details of your business - I can give you some no-obligation pointers on what to do , or email ks AT hrbs.biz .

Good luck with the business!

keith

[mo2006]

Thanks for all the help and advice. I found a local accountant who seems to know the industry (they say they have other similar clients). One thing that I'm not too sure of though is apparently I can't claim VAT back on the google ads as I don't have any taxable supplies - what do the rest of you do? As that is the case the true CPC figures are higher when you factor VAT in as it's dangerous to just bid on CPC when VAT is then added on! So far things are going really well and I'm making about a 20% ish margin after VAT which alot of businesses would be proud of! The only other aspect of all this that I'm trying to figure out is the cash flow cycle! The difference between paying for the ads and getting the cash in seems to be a long time and really varies wildly by merchant which is a pain as I've been running from credit cards and want to avoid interest!
Oh well, it's still been fun and thanks again for the advice!

Mark
www.theparentroom.co.uk