Hello,

1. Can anyone please tell me what the Inland Revenue categorises the following selfemployed drivers who do not have a business name: a taxi driver, a mini cab driver, private car hire driver, private car dealer (who sells from home), van driver, chauffeur, private driving instructor (who instructs under his own name and not under any driving school) ?

I don't think they would be classified as Sole trader even if they're not in Partnerships or registered as a company with the Company House because they do not "trade" (buy and sell) anything tangible.

2. Also, what is "Sole Proprietorship" ?

3. Anyway, what business address should people from these professions give to the Inland Revnue if they don't want to give their home address because they want to keep their home address private and don't want to associate their homes with their business nor have any business related mail coming there ?

Can they rent a p.o box or a mail box or a virtual office and provide that to the Inland Revenue as their business contact detail ? I know they can't do this if they're a company and a registered with the Companies House but what if their not a company ?

Note that, the "mail box" is like the "p.o box" but the only difference is, the latter is rented from the "post office" (Royal Mail), hence the name "post office box", and the former is rented from the post office's competitions (private companies/mail forwarders who offer "mail forwarding" and/or "virtual office" rental services).

4. Also, what is a "registered business address" ? I ask this because, the Virtual Offices and Mail Box rental companies (Mail Forwarders) say you can hire their services (rent their virtual offices, mail boxes, mail trays, etc.) and use their snail mail postal addresses on all your advertising for your business related mail to arrive there which they will forward to you but you can't use their snail mail postal addresses as your "registered business address". So, what do they mean by that ? What is this "registered business address" ? I mean, every business, whether it be a sole trader, sole proprietor, ltd company, plc, etc. has to register their business with the hmrc (Inland Revenue) within 3 months of trading and at that point of registration they have to provide their business address. When businesses do that, then have they not registered their businesses along with their business addresses ? So, if you can't provide your rented business address (mail forwarders address) to the Inland Revenue because that would count as your registering their addresses as a "registered business address" then why would you rent a business address from these mail forwarders in the first place ?

Or, has this definition "regsitered busienss address" got to do with "Companies House" some-how ?

I need a good explanation of all this because the British definitions are very confusing and because if I get into any of the selfemployed driving professions mentioned at the beginning of this message then I'd want to keep my home address private and have all my business letters and tax letters (letters from hmrc/Inland Revenue) come to my mail forwarders address and not bother me at home when I'm not in the mood to read such mail.

I found a mail forwarder who says I can rent their "mail tray" and they will either keep all letters coming for me to their address untill I collect or they will forward them to me.

And the good thing is, they won't give me a silly address like "p.o box 123" or "mail box 123" or "mail tray 123" but it would be a professional address like :

My Business Name

Suite 123 (my unique number to identify me)

Business Centre

Road Name

Town Name

County Name

Post Code


and not something like :


My Business Name

Mail Tray 123

Business Centre

Road Name

Town Name

County Name

Post Code

as that would give away that I am using a mail Forwarder and make me look unprofessional. It would be like as if I am renting their office or Virtual Office when in reality I'm simply renting their "Mail Tray".

5. Now, can I not provide the hmrc/Inland Revenue such an address as my "business address"? If not then why not and where does it say on the hmrc/Inland Revenue website that I can't do this ?

6. Also, when you register your business with the hmrc/Inland Revenue (I'm not talking about Companies House, here) then do you have to provide them your private home address ? If so, then where is this stated on their website or paper printed registration form and what is this form called that asks for your home address ?

Do you really have to provide your home address to them if you're living temporarily or even permanent for that matter with your relatives or friends who don't want you officially living there ?

7. Anything else I should know ?