Start something
Work for yourself in
Trade as yourself, without a company: what you register, and what you are exempt from.
A business based in Jersey needs a business licence. A sole trader with the right to work, no staff and fewer than 8 hours’ work a week on average is exempt. You can trade under your own name; a different trading name is applied for with the licence. The Business Hub answers questions on 01534 444444.
- 1 Before you apply · 11%
- 1 Applying · 11%
- 6 Straight after · 67%
- 1 Every year, and every change · 11%
- 8 You · 89%
- 1 You, with someone · 11%
What changes if…
Decide it should be a companyYou
Most start-ups in Jersey trade as a sole trader: self-employed, in your own name or a business name, and personally responsible for the business’s debts. Partners share the profit and the debts, and should have a written agreement. A limited company is a separate legal person: its finances are its own, and if something goes wrong its owners can only lose the capital they put in — in exchange for ongoing duties.
Why now: Everything after this depends on it, so it comes first.
A business licence — or the exemptionYouthe Business Hub
A business based in Jersey needs a business licence. A sole trader with the right to work, no staff and fewer than 8 hours’ work a week on average is exempt. You can trade under your own name; a different trading name is applied for with the licence. The Business Hub answers questions on 01534 444444.
Choose how you pay Social SecurityYouSocial SecurityEvery month, by direct debit
As a sole trader you pay Class 2 contributions — both the employee’s share (6%) and the employer’s (6.5%) come from your income, billed every month — and you say how you wish to pay when you apply for the licence. Choose an option, or you are billed at the maximum rate.
Why now: They contact you after the licence; choose before the first bill.
Open a business bank account — earlyYou, with someonea bankA bank: one to six monthsWorth doing
Keep the business’s money apart from your own from day one. A bank can take between one and six months to open an account, and it will ask for evidence about the business and its owners — so start as soon as the company exists. A company need not wait on a bank to trade: an e-money account in its own name, such as Revolut Business, can be applied for online once the company exists and its documents are ready — the certificate of incorporation, and proof of who owns and runs it. Revolut lists Jersey and Guernsey among the places it serves, and asks that the company be registered and present in the UK or the EEA, so check its sign-up for your company. An e-money account is not a bank account: Jersey’s depositor compensation scheme covers the banks gov.je lists.
Insurance, premises and planningYou
Whether you work from home or from premises, make sure you and anyone working for you are insured, and that you have the planning and building permission for what you do there.
Manpower returnsYouthe Government of JerseyBy 31 January and 31 July
Every business with a licence must make manpower returns, and they cost nothing. With no staff, submit the online form twice a year — by 31 January and 31 July, showing the business on 31 December and 30 June. Once you employ anyone, it goes on the combined employer return instead, every month.
What you do not need
- A company. You can trade under your own name.
- A business name registration, if you trade under your own first name, surname and initials.
Keep going
- Choose a registered officeThe official address every company must have: where it can be, whose permission it needs, and where it must be shown.Open
- Get a business licenceWho needs one in Jersey, who is exempt, how long it takes — and the three things it sets going.Open
- Start a companyForm a limited company: who it needs, its office, its rules, the application — and everything that follows, in order.Open
- All of it, in orderPlan my start draws every journey you need, for your place, with your costs.Plan my start
Words in this journey:Certificate of incorporationBusiness licenceManpower returnClass 2 contributionsITISCombined employer returnSole traderLimited company