How to Set up as a Self Employed Personal Trainer

It’s easy and quick to set up and start trading as a self employed Personal Trainer. Fortunately there isnt alot of paperwork to do. There are also no registration fees to pay.

This is a straight forward, short guide covering all the legal aspects you will need to follow to set up and start trading legally in the UK.

Any UK citizen can set up as a Sole Trader. If you will be training your clients at a Health Club or Gym or there own home you wont need to worry about business rates. However if you are converting a room at home to trade from you will need to seek advice from the business rates department at your local council.

OK, lets get started…

Choose your business name
This can be your own name (e.g. John Doe) or a trading name. e.g.  JD Personal Training
However, if you decide to use a trading name, your business website and stationery should display your real name. e.g. John Doe trading as JD Personal Training.
Also remember not to use a name too similar to someone already trading or a name that implies you are a Government organisation or a name that infringes some elses trademark.

Tax - As a Sole Trader you will have to pay income tax on all your profits. This means you will have to fill in a yearly Self Assessment form.

Register as self-employed with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) as soon as you start your business.
If you fail to do this within the first three full months of becoming self employed, you may have to pay a penalty of £100. Download the form to register as self-employed from the HMRC website (PDF).

National Insurance - You will also need to pay national insurance. You can pay a flat rate, currently set at £2.30 (2008 - 2009) per week. You can pay this by direct debit for ease. Get the info by clicking here.

Class 4 National Insurance - If your profits are over a certain amount, currently £5435 (2008 - 2009) you will have to pay extra national insurance called class 4. You will pay this with your income tax.

VAT - You will only need to charge VAT if your business turns over more than £67,000 per year (correct at time of publishing)

Financial Records - Keep all your financial records and business receipts. You will need these to fill in your self assessment form.  You do not need to pay an account if you are happy with filling in forms for yourself as a Sole Trader. If you are not very good at these things, then seek advice from a local accountant.
I will add a basic record keeping form under the FREE Business Tools section on this site.

Employed and Self Employed at the same time - If you work for a company as a Fitness Instructor for an example and get paid a wage, that company / employer is responsible for your tax and national insurance for that job. If you then also work as a Personal Trainer privately, then YOU are responsible as a self employed business owner for that part of your earnings and must register as self employed and pay your taxes and other deductions from that line of work.

So to sum up,…

• register as self-employed with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
• contact your local authority to find out whether you need to pay business rates if you plan on working from home (this doesnt include doing admin on your computer only)
• contact HMRC to register for VAT if you expect to have turnover of more than £67,000 a year
• set up a financial record-keeping system
• put your name on all your business stationery, including letters, invoices, receipts and cheques

Good Luck in your new business!