Advice Needed.

[Zafar Ahmed]

Hello

I'm 16 will turn 17 soon.
I own a business , it's website promotion. I'm very professional in dealing with clients , and professional in my work.
I have been in e-business for 4 years and have 3 years of online business experience.
I was wondering if it's legal for me to run online business at age 16 ?


Thank YOU :)

[Chicken]

The short answer is generally... yes. You could be 10 years old and run a business, however you'd probably need some backing from and things done by your parents/guardian for paperwork and legal issues, contracts, etc.

[HostMerit]

Legally someone under 18 cannot enter into a contract.. More or less you could 'fly the coop' and not be held responsible. While people who enter into business with someone under 18, they're taking a risk, but if you're legitmate, and will not leave, you will be fine.

I myself started HostMerit, my web hosting company when I was 17. Now, later on of course I'm incorporated under an LLC, have a business address, tax ID, etc etc - Not much else has changed since I turned 18, I always treated clients with respect, and never let days of downtime occur, etc etc. I paid taxes when I was under 18, by reporting it as personal income.

I'm personally angry at the older relics who recoil in horror when you mention Web Hosting companies with teenagers, I myself never had that issue, and now I acutally have my own Rack Space / own my own servers. So yes legally you can do business, just report it when tax time comes up. Also, if you were to have payments, I'd set them up through your father, possibly have a merchant company ACH (transfer) the money into his account, so they'd be entering into a 'contract' with your dad. This way, he's over 18, and any possible Terms of Service you would have WOULD apply.

I never had this issue becuase until recently I used Paypal as my major payment processor (Paypal + Paypal Debit = Instant Cash)

As long as you report any income, you will be fine, you can have your families tax filing service do this for you.

[HostMerit]

Few Things I might add...

You must look professional. You may be the BEST promotion guy on this great earth, but the spelling of coming mis-spelled as comming multiple times is quite a turn off for people.

Also, you might want to keep a global font, Possibly Verdana. I personally see Verdana, Arial, and Times on the home page alone.

[hostroyal]

Legally as far as im aware in the UK if your a student and are earning under i cant remember the limit at the minuite its about £15000 per annum and you go to a collage or uni you wont be taxed. As its optional from what i know to report it if your not makeing much,. its just like the little kid who sells his dinner at lunch he dosent need to report to tax man as hes not makeing much and would not get taxed. As far as being 16 is concern i know someone who works for Olate and hes 16 he's part of the company and lives in the UK so i dont see what possible problems there could be. Just to be on the safe side ask at your local tax office.

[Zafar Ahmed]

Few Things I might add...

You must look professional. You may be the BEST promotion guy on this great earth, but the spelling of coming mis-spelled as comming multiple times is quite a turn off for people.

Also, you might want to keep a global font, Possibly Verdana. I personally see Verdana, Arial, and Times on the home page alone.


If you are talking about my site? well it is not done yet and that is just a testing.
It might take 4 more days to make it look professional.
Thank you btw :)

[Torith]

It depends on where you live. Example if you live in America you need to be the age of 18 years old or older to run a legal business by your self. In the UK I believe it is the age of 16? So as you can tell just depends on where you live :).

[GordonH]

Its confusing in the UK as I believe it is 16 in Scotland, 17 in England but you need to be 18 to be a company director.

However, my advice is to get out and play. Don't take on any heavy responsibilities at that age.