Business banking
Open a dedicated business account before you make your first sale. Here's why it matters and which UK accounts are actually worth considering.
Last verified January 2025
This one isn’t really a decision: it’s a requirement. You need a separate business bank account. The only question is which one.
Why you can’t use your personal account
I know people who did this. It works, until it really doesn’t. By the end of year one you’re trying to reconstruct your business expenses from 400 Amazon transactions and HMRC is asking questions.
A dedicated business account means: clean records for Self Assessment, clear income for any loan or mortgage application, professional-looking payment details for invoices, and a much easier life when your accountant or bookkeeping software needs to connect to your transactions.
If you’re a limited company, this isn’t optional: mixing personal and company funds is a directors’ loan situation and HMRC treats it accordingly.
The UK business banking landscape
The traditional high-street banks (Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, NatWest) all offer business accounts. Most charge £5–10/month and take 1–2 weeks to open. Fine, but not the best option for a new founder.
The accounts worth knowing about for early-stage UK businesses are:
Tide: free entry-level plan, opens in minutes from your phone, Mastercard included. Targeted specifically at small businesses and sole traders. Free basic invoicing built in. When you need to pay people or handle more complex payroll, paid plans start from around £9.99/month.
Monzo Business: popular with freelancers and small teams. Good app, easy integration with Xero and FreeAgent. Free plan available, though with limits on transfers.
Starling Bank: consistently rated highly. No monthly fee for sole traders, good app, instant notifications. Integrates well with accounting software.
Revolut Business: strong if you’re doing international transactions. Less compelling for a purely UK-based sole trader business.
🇬🇧 FreeAgent is free for RBS/NatWest business customers
If you bank with RBS or NatWest, you get FreeAgent accounting software for free. This is a legitimate £19/month saving. Worth considering if you’re doing Making Tax Digital accounting alongside your banking.
What I’d actually do
For a new sole trader or early-stage limited company: open Tide or Starling. Both are free to start, both open quickly, both integrate with the accounting software you’ll set up in the next step.
Don’t overthink this. A free account at Tide takes 10–15 minutes. The most important thing is having one before you receive any money.
Open a Tide account
Free account - no monthly fee at entry level
What to set up when you open it
Once your account is open, do these three things immediately:
First, connect it to your accounting software to pull in transactions automatically (Tide connects directly to Xero, FreeAgent, and others via open banking). Second, create a savings pot or second account earmarked for tax; move 25–30% of every payment you receive in there. Third, save the sort code and account number somewhere you can copy-paste it into your invoice template.
That’s it. Next decision is accounting software, which you’ll connect to this account.