Mark Van Adium
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Starting a business to order supplies.
I did a search and could only find this suggested once.
Is there any reason that home chemists don't register businesses in their names to take advantage of large chemical suppliers. Business registration
does not appear to be expensive, and it would not be hard to stay well above the law.
It seems like it costs about £30 to register, maybe £100 to get a nice website up and running, and that's all you need. Most people will already
have the knowledge and equipment to cover their story, and might even be doing research which is akin to that done by small R&D outfits.
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peach
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I have done this in the past myself, and had a phone interview with BASF and another chemical company.
However, the bigger chemical companies are now wise to the fact that drug labs do the same thing, and want a good amount of detail involved. Like a
VAT code. That will mean registering yourself with customs as well as companies house.
Customs do not have much interested in supplying VAT codes to people who aren't turning over at least £70k per year; they set that as a specific
number. You'll then need to file tax returns showing what's going on with your account.
You can voluntarily register at a lower rate I think, but still, they don't really supply them for general public use as far as I'm aware, since it's
effectively tax evasion. If your VAT return comes back with a load of chemicals on it, and zero going out, they'll start wondering why you have a VAT
account if you're not actually selling anything. I suspect they'd either want you to pay the VAT or simply block the code.
If you imagine you were buying TV's and HiFi's with your vat code, then sold nothing and were just one guy sitting in his house, it becomes obvious
why they'd be bothered about that. The TV's and HiFi's are for personal use, as would be the chemicals, which doesn't qualify for tax exemption.
This is why the chemical companies like them so much, as it rules out most of the messing around with one line of numbers.
[Edited on 20-2-2011 by peach]
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Mark Van Adium
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Seems like an absolute catch-22 non starter though surely? Customs won't give you a tax code unless you're selling thousands, and companies won't
supply you until you have a VAT code.
Seems like the only way to do it would be to "buy" the chemicals+vat from the business with your own account and then have the business pay the
appropriate VAT. This seems like it would be ok from a tax perspective if the business was "selling" an amount below the income tax threshold, since
if you sold at cost+vat you wouldn't need to pay income tax (if incoming = outgoing, is that correct).
This could be used to money launder, so I would not be surprised if you received an audit, but if you were genuinely doing everything above board it
should work.
Alternatively you could claim you're doing R&D and that the materials are being consumed and you don't have a sale-able prototype yet?
[Edited on 20-2-2011 by Mark Van Adium]
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peach
Bon Vivant
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Precisely.
Personally, I'm more bothered about the other problem. That if all the other suppliers are asking for VAT codes, the ne'er-do-wells are going to
sucker onto you like leaches. And the people who are willing to pay what will be a significant amount of money for a container of obscure chemicals
are even more likely to be the ones who have some get rich quick scheme planned out for it.
I would not at all be surprised if one or two weren't trying to make orders very soon after the things became available.
Paying the VAT is an option, but it also flags it as being for personal use, which means customs is likely going to want you to just pay the VAT
straight up and drop your account, since it means they have to do lots of paperwork themselves.
In terms of R&D, that's something where you'd need to call them and chat with an advisor. Both buying chemicals and the R&D thing are odd
topics compared to the majority of what they deal with. I seem to remember asking specifically about chemicals and they said something like, "We don't
have any advice about that".
Rather than give you a VAT code to do R&D, they may be more likely to treat your tax retroactively once you have a working product. Which does put
a roadblock in R&D as well, as it means digging out an extra 20% on everything during the stage where you will be spending a lot of money anyway.
[Edited on 20-2-2011 by peach]
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Lambda-Eyde
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I have no idea what it's like in other countries, but where I live it's free to register your own one-man company. Only requirement is that you are
over 18 years of age. Having a magic number issued by the bureucrats opens many doors. I have done business with Fisher Scientific, Chiron AS (Norway
based company), a school supplier and the Stockholm University Shop.
In Norway, you get a code for your company. e.g. 996 078 ***. For VAT registration, you need to sell for 50000 NOK (>5k£) or more in a 12 month
period. Your company code would then be "996 078 *** MVA".
All it took was some paperwork and a week's wait. And the paperwork wasn't even paperwork, I registered everything online. 
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Paddywhacker
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Registering your own company is a great idea, especially if it can be done, as it can in New Zealand, online for a nominal fee.
Having your own company gives you the possibility turning your hobby into a business. You are demonstrably legitimate and may be inspected by police
or safety inspectors in a friendly and professional manner. No need to fear everything being confiscated, just on suspicion.
You will still have to fear being burgled by nere-do-wells for your chemicals and glassware. And you may have to attend hasmat courses and gain
certification in handling hazardous goods, and store your chemicals in approved fashion, with signage, MSDS sheets, etc. but you are on your way to
being a pro.
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Regolith
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Indeed, this was easy where I am as well no VAT code issues. Numbered companies are cheap here. Nothing stops you from saying your a research
institute, it's YOUR company (prove otherwise).
That said sure there are some nice chemicals to get with a company licence. However I can still get technical grade sulphuric acid (drain cleaner) and
calcium nitrate (local fert) cheaper than from Cole-Parmer. Thus nitric acid, a common want for most, is cheaper at anhydrous grades (with commercial
glassware) to make than buy.
Get used to getting the heck spammed outta you by the way from ALL the chem companies. They won't give individuals the time of day but come with a
business licence... they beat down YOUR door.
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Contrabasso
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Just remember that most lab suppliers are staffed by chemists! If your first few orders are Nitric sulphuric and Glycerine/ toluene/ hexamine then
they KNOW what that makes. If you order pseudo Eph.... in kilo quantities they KNOW what you are making!
To be a reputed lab they really want to know what you are selling. You could be doing water analysis from swimming pools to drinking water and have
need for reagents. You don't have to sell products! You could sell results, test data etc, but to be a business you must sell something to bring the
money in.
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