Northern Ireland Farm Business ID

[Guby]

Hi,

I'm new to this... so please forgive stupid questions. Recently purchased approx 10 acres, and plan to start a small farm business - a mixture of woodland, and potentially a small herd of sheep / flock of hens.

To access some of the forestry grants, I'll need a CAT1 ID in Northern Ireland. However, the application form has given me lots of questions.

- Legal structure. This will be a husband and wife style, small farm. Do I need to register this as a business, or can I treat it as a sole trader?
- Accounts. Do I need to speak with an accountant to set up formal accounts? Or is this overkill?
- Bank Account. Do I need to set up a business bank account? Or can an existing account be used?
- HRMC. Do I need to register for self assessment?
- Land. I don't have a Farm Survey Number. Am I right to assume that the Field Number is the same as a Folio Number with Land Registry?

When it comes to the "criteria to be considered a separate business", I know they ask for as much detail as possible - I'm just not sure there's a lot to say!

Thanks for your help!

 

[vaderstad]

OK I'll give this a go...

Legal structure: you can certainly operate your business as a sole trader. But you'll need to check that as a sole trader you can claim the grants.
Accounts: you should be able to do your own book keeping. If the business is straightforward you could also do your own end of year accounts for taxation purposes. You might find it useful to have an accountant help you get started. I'd recommend that as you have plans for woodland and it may fall under a non-agricultural tax category.
Bank account: as a sole trader you need an account that you use purely for business transactions, can be a personal account not necessarily a business account. Otherwise you'll need a business account. I think Starling Bank still provide free small business accounts.
HMRC: Yes.
Land: You'll need someone from Northern Ireland to answer this. Or you could just phone DARD and ask?

 

[Guby]

OK I'll give this a go...

Thank you vaderstad, I know that was a broad range of questions to ask. I really appreciate your time. New to the forum, so hopefully I can help others in other areas.