PRE REVENUE / EARLY TRADING
Pricing, spending, VAT, tax and hiring decisions start shaping the economics of the business long before year end. Model them while you can still change them.
Grounded in live HMRC, GOV.UK and Companies House data. Five free questions, no card needed.
Your starting point
These factors can completely change which financial decisions matter most to you.
Revenue so far
Expected sales over the next 12 months
B2B or B2C
Current VAT status
Planning to hire
Decisions that shape the economics
Small changes here compound by year end.
VAT registration is based on your taxable turnover, not your profit, so you can be required to register even while the business is barely breaking even.
Registering before you have to is a commercial decision, not automatically good or bad. It depends on your customers and your costs.
When do I actually have to register for VAT?
Should I voluntarily register for VAT now?
Once you're VAT registered, a fifth of every sale effectively belongs to HMRC, not you. Whether that means putting prices up depends on who's paying.
Business customers who can reclaim VAT barely notice it. Consumers who can't will feel the full increase, so the impact on your margin and your pricing looks very different depending on who you sell to.
Will VAT mean I have to put my prices up?
Genuine business expenditure, personal expenses, and assets are all treated differently, and mixing them up causes problems later.
Some VAT paid on costs before you registered may still be reclaimable, so it's worth keeping records even for spend that predates registration.
What expenses can the company actually claim?
Can I claim VAT on things I bought before registering?
Money sitting in the business bank account isn't automatically spendable cash. Some of it already belongs to a future Corporation Tax bill, even if that bill isn't due for months.
Setting aside a portion as you go is far less painful than finding it all at once.
How much should I be putting aside for Corporation Tax?
We're starting to make money. How much of the cash can I safely use?
A salary is only part of what an employee costs. Employer's National Insurance, PAYE administration and, depending on eligibility, pension contributions all add to the real cost of hiring.
This isn't a guide to employment law, it's about understanding the full financial picture before you commit to a hire.
Can I afford to hire someone on £30,000?
What does an employee really cost the company?
Real questions founders ask at the pre-revenue / early trading stage.
When do I actually have to register for VAT?
Will VAT mean I have to put my prices up?
Can I claim VAT on things I bought before registering?
How much should I be putting aside for Corporation Tax?
What does an employee really cost the company?
WiseMind can help you understand VAT thresholds, test pricing scenarios, estimate tax reserves, explore the cost of hiring and see how financial decisions affect your cash before you act.