Should I buy as a self-employed person or set up a company?

Both approaches are valid and the market uses both; the choice is based on tax and asset considerations rather than administrative ones:

• Individual (self-employed). The simplest and cheapest option. Income is taxed under your personal income tax and you are liable with your entire personal assets. This makes sense for a licence that you will be operating yourself.
• Company. This separates the asset from your personal assets, is taxed under corporation tax, and makes it easier to grow (multiple licences, drivers, financing) and sell later: the exit can be structured as a sale of shares. It is the natural format for franchise packages and investors.

An important point to note when buying: buying the licence is not the same as buying the company that holds the licence. Buying a company also means taking on its history — debts, employment and tax liabilities — and therefore requires more thorough due diligence, which at VTC360 forms part of the escrow process when the transaction is structured in this way (on the marketplace you’ll see the format of each offer: individual, company or package).

In your specific case, spending half an hour with a tax adviser before paying the deposit is the best investment you’ll make throughout the whole process.