Legal Framework

We have rejected the idea of setting up as a "formal" legal entity such as a Limited Company, Registered Society or Co-Operative. This means that we shall be a "Partnership" (i.e. an unincorporated body) under UK law. As such, we can have up to 20 members, with or without a written agreement with eachother. One immediate advantage with a Partnership is that it's private - we don't have to submit accounts (except for tax).

Also, as of September 1998, it looks as though we may also register for VAT. While this will not affect members who are not VAT-registered, it will enable those who are to claim this tax back.

We note that the above Legal Framework may or may not be entirely accurate in that we've not checked with a lawyer or other authority. In particular, we've yet to find out about the tax position, but we get the idea that it's pretty simple as we won't be trading anything.

Making sure that we are on the level (tax-wise) will be the responsibility of the elected Treasurer.


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Last modified: 08/01/2000