Sole-Proprietorship

or also commonly known as Sole-Trader

Any individual carrying on a business on his/her own behalf will be a sole trader. Sole-traders are self-employed and pay income tax on the profits made by the business.

Advantages

• It is easy and quick to start trading as a sole trader as there are no formalities to comply with other than notifying the Tax Authorities.
• The business itself is flexible. Any decisions and changes can be made easily as there is only one person to make the relevant choices.
• All the profits generated by the business will belong to the sole-trader.
• Sole-traders own their business and so are able to sell or transfer it as they wish.

Disadvantages

• A sole-trader has unlimited liability. This means that if the business should collapse, the sole-trader could loose not only the cash and other assets invested in the business but all his/her personal assets as well, to meet the debts of the business.
• As there is only one person with overall responsibility for the success of the business this may increase the pressure on that individual.

A sole-proprietorship is a business firm owned by one person or one locally incorporated company. There are no partners. The sole-proprietor has absolute say in the running of the business firm. Management rests on that one person and his liability is unlimited.

It is an easy procedure to register a sole-proprietorship. There is no requirement for a sole-trader to maintain accounts for auditing purposes. For tax purposes, a balance sheet or statement of affairs as at the end of the year and a detailed profit and loss account must be submitted to the tax authorities.

If such a business fails or is declared bankrupt, the creditors can sue the proprietor for all debts incurred. A legal claim can be made against the personal assets of the proprietor. One of the advantages of this form of business is that there are fewer formalities in terms of its formation and registration.