Opening a professional account, a must? You have just created your company and wish to open a professional bank account as part of your daily activity. But what is the appropriate procedure? Is it compulsory for an entrepreneur to open a professional account?
Setting up a business is often synonymous with opening a business bank account in the name of the company in question.
For most people, a business account is defined as an account that is used for the activity of a company in any form. For banks, a business account is defined quite differently. It is an account that has the usual services as well as services dedicated to professionals such as the management of unpaid bills, the collection of bank cards and others. You can visit
https://www.bank4pro.co.uk/ for more about business bank account.
Why open a professional account?
The professional account is used to process cash receipts and disbursements related to the company's activity. For this purpose, means of payment such as chequebook or bank card are issued by the bank in the name of the company created. This bank account will be all the more useful to collect your payments, pay your employees, your suppliers as well as the rest of your expenses.
It is strongly advised to open a professional bank account for various reasons. The creation of this separate account allows several things. It allows the separation of private and professional operations in order to avoid any confusion from a fiscal and accounting point of view. It also makes it possible to confer the banking signature to a partner or employee of the company. If the accounts have not been separated beforehand, this person will also have access to your personal accounts!
Opening a business account: an obligation for all entrepreneurs?
Legally, at the time of the company's creation, the share capital of almost all companies is deposited on a business bank account when the company is registered. Except for sole proprietorships and liberal professions.
The obligation to open a professional bank account depends in fact on the status of the company.
Depending on the form of the company, some have legal personality. This means that they are considered as "a full-fledged person". This name confers a name, an address as well as the possession of an own patrimony (independent of the associated patrimony). These companies include, among others, the S.A.R.L., the E.U.R.L. and the S.A.S. If you open one of these companies, you are obliged to open a professional bank account.
In other cases, the assets of the manager and the company are merged. This is the case in particular of the auto-entrepreneur or sole proprietorship. According to article L.123-24 of the Commercial Code: "every trader is required to open an account in a credit institution or in a post office check office". However, this text does not specify the nature of the account (whether it is a strictly personal account or a mixed personal account, i.e. one that serves as both a personal and a business account). It should also be noted that the article refers only to traders and not to craftsmen or liberal professions. There is therefore no obligation for the latter. Please note, however, that opening a dedicated professional account allows for better bookkeeping of your company and gives it better visibility of its banking movements. It is therefore once again strongly advised to have a separate professional bank account in order to differentiate between professional and personal transactions.
From a tax point of view but also from a business management point of view, opening a professional account is not without importance. There is no point in trying to offset the weight of penalties to be paid in the event of a tax audit by the weight of fees saved by using the same account, as these penalties are much higher.
You also have the right to freely choose your banking institution. Which one is not necessarily the same as the one where you already have your personal account.