Who Qualifies For Business Car Leasing?
Published 31 July 2023
To qualify for a business lease, your company would need to be one of the following:
Sole Trader:
You’re self-employed if you run your own business as an individual and work for yourself. This is also known as being a ‘sole trader’.
Partnership:
In a partnership, you and your partner (or partners) personally share responsibility for your business. This includes:
- any losses your business makes
- bills for things you buy for your business, like stock or equipment
Partners share the business’s profits, and each partner pays tax on their share.
Limited Company
A limited company is a company ‘limited by shares’ or ‘limited by guarantee’.
Limited by shares
Limited by shares companies are usually businesses that make a profit. This means the company:
- is legally separate from the people who run it
- has separate finances from your personal ones
- has shares and shareholders
- can keep any profits it makes after paying tax
Limited by guarantee
Limited by guarantee companies are usually ‘not for profit’. This means the company:
- is legally separate from the people who run it
- has separate finances from your personal ones
- has guarantors and a ‘guaranteed amount’
- invests profits it makes back into the company
Limited Liability Partnership
You can set up (‘incorporate’) a limited liability partnership (LLP) to run a business with 2 or more members. A member can be a person or a company, known as a ‘corporate member’.
Each member pays tax on their share of the profits, as in an ‘ordinary’ business partnership, but isn’t personally liable for any debts the business can’t pay.
Public Limited Company
A public limited company, also known as a PLC, is a company structure available to businesses in the UK. Unlike the other structures such as sole trader and partnerships, the business exists as a separate entity to the owners, offering protection from liabilities and debt.
Charity
In England and Wales, a charity is an organisation that is:
- established for charitable purposes only, and
- subject to the High Court’s charity law jurisdiction
Purposes are what your charity is set up to achieve – they are explained in your governing document. To be charitable, your charity’s purposes must:
- fall within the descriptions of purposes
- be for the public benefit