Ask HN: Use own name or form a company for development freelancing/consultancy?

I personally would say, use your name if freelancing. If you are looking to become a consultancy then look at using a company name.

Whether forming a company is beneficial depends on where you live and what the tax/liability/other rules are in your jurisdiction.

I'm Dutch, and I started a one-man company because it's fairly trivial, and I need a BTW (VAT) number to charge required VAT, ask it back from the tax service, and enable my clients to ask the VAT they paid me back.

I'm still fully liable, because starting a BV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Besloten_vennootschap) costs more and comes with extra requirements. I may eventually become a BV when it becomes advantageous for me to do so.

There's definitely paperwork, but that's unavoidable. Without a company, I'd still have paperwork. I hired someone to handle the taxes for me, and his costs are deductible because they're business costs for me.

My company's name is not my real name (there's a totally different company that already uses my real name), but in the end, clients are interested in me, and not in my company.

I did this recently and I went with a company name for two reasons. One, not having a native English meant that it wouldn't sound normal for them to spell/write my name, and second, I don't really like my name :P

Now if you should start a business or register as a sole trader, depends on revenue, local legal liabilities, if in the future you plan to hire people, etc. This advice should be given by an accountant that knows local tax and your current situation.

I do consulting under my own name, http://macgregorindustries.com, but with naming as there's little science to it, use whatever feels right.

I don't understand why forming a company and using your own name are mutually exclusive. You should incorporate; if you don't, some of your clients will withhold taxes for you as if you were an employee. It'll also be harder to get insurance. And, of course, you get protection from contract liability. Incorporation is extremely inexpensive and does not really involve much paperwork.

Call the company whatever you want.

I was a sole trader in the UK for a few years as a freelancer, but what tipped the balance and made me use a limited company instead was mainly liability protection: client projects/related risks were getting big enough to warrant it, plus I wanted a separate legal entity for my own projects.

The additional paperwork isn't actually that bad if you have a decent accountant who is used to working electronically (I can recommend a v good one, FWIW).

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Go with both. Personal branding is important in your situation but you also want to take care of liabilities,taxes etc in a more professional way. One way to do it is to market yourself individually through your website,blog whatever using your own name. When you do have a client ready to hire you, just mention to them that "for tax/liability purpose, I do contracts and payments via my company <xyz>". I doubt that any client will have an issue writing a check to a company vs. a person. In fact, in the US, it is preferable that way in some cases where liability is an issue. I know that you are in the UK but I would guess something similar there.

Form a company with a generic consulting name, and brand yourself as yourself. That's what I do now and it works fine for me. When you bill give them your company billing information.

If your freelancing does get bigger than you can just step back to your company name.

Sell You, Bill your company.

Definitely set up a Limited Company. It costs less than 20 pounds to do it online via the Companies House web site. As others have said, you don't want to take on more risk or liability as an individual.

If your clients are mostly VAT-registered, your company should also register for VAT, even if you are below the turnover threshold where you are obligated to do so. Your clients will not care (as they will claim back the VAT), but your company will benefit by being able to claim back VAT on things it buys (like laptops). Even better, you could register for the VAT flat-rate scheme, which would create some additional saving in terms of VAT even if you don't have any VAT-able expenses.

This is not advice. You should get some professional advice from someone who does this all day. Ping me if you want a recommendation: rahim @ encona dotcom