Hello! I am part way through setting up a new martial arts club (Kali with a self defence attitude) in Bath, UK and have a couple of questions to those who run their own clubs: 1) I am looking to get Instructor insurance and, potentially, student-student insurance. I will be hiring venues (mainly church halls), so do not believe that I need building/contents insurance. What insurance do you have? Which provider do you use? Have you ever had to claim? If so, did your insurance cover what you expected? If you have student insurance, is this something that you did as part of your own club, or part of a wider organisation? Providers I have found so far are: Martial Guard Insure4Sport Endsleigh erm... that's it 2) I am employed in a full time job and do not wish to become self employed (as my current employer would then have to sub-contract me, which they don't want to do, and I would have to sort out the tax calculations on ALL my activities, which I do not want to do), but to ensure everything is run above board financially, I am considering setting the club up as a private limited company, with me as director (and only shareholder), so that student fees are not misconstrued as my personal income (i.e. if they were simply paid in to my bank account). I am not planning to pay myself a salary, but potentially pay a dividend at the end of the year if there is anything left over after hall fees, insurance costs and investment in equipment. Is this something that you have done? If so: do you have to declare yourself as self employed first (is this step necessary?), then incorporate your company, then register yourself as director? Do you then have to file company accounts, corporation tax AND personal tax stuff? If not, what status is your club and how do you manage the money thing without getting on the less desirable side of HMRC? Any and all help and suggestions would be much appreciated! Harry
You can be employed and self employed simultaneously, you just have to enter your P60 details on your tax return. This will in turn allow you exemption from paying national insurance on your earnings from the club. Typically insurance is cheaper through an association than direct due to bulk buying. When I left my old group the bccma were less than half what martial guard wanted.
If anyone is interested, I went with martial guard (they would let me specify the right disciplines and training weapons), and "sole trader, trading as..." for HMRC officialness. This is the decision that seemed right for me at the time and does not constitute legal, financial or tax advice for anyone else...
Nemesis has been on 'pause' for a couple of years now as the main guy moved to Germany while his gf does a post grad course. I think he's coming back eventually and we'll probably team up again when he does
