For a Saas trading as a sole trader does not make much sense to me, as you are personally responsible, not a company. And you'll likely want to move to a company sooner than later, anyway.
Dude asked for the leanest version, that'd be it — I'd go sole trader and have it legal, all while seeing whether the SaaS lifts itself off the ground or not
It's arguably not the leanest, then.
IMHO, with payments processing to be setup and legal liabilities it is a good idea to completely separate that from your personal finances. On a more subjective note, it also projects a more profesional image.
It would be good if Jackypot would reply to comments so we could understand what is his issue with setting up a company.
Note, btw that it is not accurate to say that for a sole trader profits up to £12.5k are untaxed as this is the "personal allowance": This amount relates to your personal income as a whole.
UK is the perfect place for you in this situation. US people might give you advice based on their legislation so be careful who you listen to
1. Set up as a sole trader with the HMRC (the equivalent of IRS for US readers that are curious) 2. Declare your profits 3. You'll pay taxes (and everything is legal as well) on the following brackets: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-tax-person...
Scroll down to the chart to see what I'm talking about but here is the highlight:
Any profits between £0 and £12,500 are untaxed — you have to declare them though.
So I'd say yes, don't form a company yet. Godspeed