opening a business bank account

[tetley]

hello all, can someone help as my husband is being railroaded into opening a business bank account by banque populaire,  he has an appointment tomorrow afternoon.  He is just coming to his first year under the micro bic system, and believes he is not obliged to open a separate business account.  His earnings is purely for labour, he does not charge TVA and customers pay the building suppliers direct, he would prefer not to have to open another bank account, as that is yet another outgoing to take into consideration....We would be very grateful if someone could shed some light on this?

[zeb]

We just opened a separate account at La Poste which we use as a business acount but it's a personal account in my partner's name if you see what I mean, tetley. We were warned that there are much higher charges for a business account.

[tetley]

thanks Zeb, yes I think I do see what you mean!....thanks again

[Nick Trollope]

[quote user="tetley"]hello all, can someone help as my husband is being railroaded into opening a business bank account by banque populaire,  he has an appointment tomorrow afternoon.  He is just coming to his first year under the micro bic system, and believes he is not obliged to open a separate business account.  His earnings is purely for labour, he does not charge TVA and customers pay the building suppliers direct, he would prefer not to have to open another bank account, as that is yet another outgoing to take into consideration....We would be very grateful if someone could shed some light on this?[/quote]

I believe that opening a business account (if you are in business) is almost mandatory - certainly strongly recommended. My accountant insisted on it - makes his life easier, if nothing else!

As a result, we never use our joint account (Tina & I both have our own business accounts)!

Business accounts are slightly more expensive than personal ones, but ours come with a 7% 1600€ overdraft automatically (CA) plus we have a TPE (probably not of interest to you) which can only be tied to a business account.

 

[tetley]

In the meeting with the bank, my husband was informed that it isn't mandatory for someone on a micro-bic to have a business account, but of course, he highly recommended it as it would be easier to get credit if he needed it for his business etc.  From what he said, it doesn't seem as though it is as expensive as we first thought, so will look into it in the new year, as my husband may possibly be changing tax regimes anyway.........one step at a time!!!