Can I use my personal bank account instead of a company account?
I've just registered a limited company in the UK. I wonder whether this is possible/legal to use your personal bank account until the company has its own account? I want to make online transactions on my website available as soon as possible, but it seems I won't be able to open an account for the company faster than within one or two weeks. The problem is my website operates in Poland, and it lasts a bit to prepare all documents required by Polish banks and translate the douments, whereas it's just about 10 minutes to open a personal account.
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Could you possibly open a PayPal account for your website quickly? – Jonny Boats 12 years ago
2 Answers
Can't speak for the UK but in the USA such co-mingling of funds makes it easier for someone suing your company to pierce the corporate veil and go after you personally. I'd recommend going for a separate business only account.
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In the US, it's perfectly legal to do this, just not recommended. – Michael Pryor 12 years ago
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In the US. co-mingling of funds is a great way to start a week long audit by the IRS. – Gary E 12 years ago
Its legal in the UK.
I agree with jmp though, its a bad idea. Using your own bank account raises suspicion of corruption and looks unprofessional. It will also make accounting a nightmare.
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And it means bank taransfers can not use the company name as the recipient accuont is your personal name. EXTREMELY unpreofessional. Opens "you commit tax fraud" assumptions everywhere. – Net Tecture 12 years ago
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Thank you for your answer! I get the point. I think I'll just register a Skrill account (Moneybookers) and use Skrill to take payments on my website, and as soon as I get all documents that I need to register a Polish bank account I'll use a local service (which would be slightly cheaper than Skrill and give me more payment options) instead of Skrill. – Lukeshek 12 years ago
