Current account for a member of a General Partnership

Hi! I’m a little bit confused. Could you please help me? I am a partner in a general partnership. As far as I know, English law allows partners to receive payments into their personal accounts and does not require a business account. At the same time, I see a restriction in the T&Cs from Monzo on using a current account as a partnership account. However, I don’t need an account for the partnership itself. If I use my personal account (to which no one else will have access) to receive payments related to partnership activities, would this be a violation of the rules? As far as I know, Monzo allows using a current account for receiving payments for self-employed activities, and honestly, I don’t see any fundamental differences from a partner. Thank you!

You answered your own question:

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I suppose the tricky thing here is technically if the money is partnership money then the other partners would have a legal claim on it, and Monzo would have to get involved.
The bit I am confused about is why you think your money as a GP would need a partnership account? Are you talking about carried interest because that would be your personal income i.e it is vested to you?

Doing my own research on this (so don’t take as gospel. I am not a laywer by any stretch of the imagination).

It does also appear that you don’t need a specific “Business Current Account” for General Partnerships, however it is still recommended that you have a dedicated account set up for use for anything relating to the business (a standard current account will suffice). This allows you to keep business transactions separate from your personal spending.
But you should always check the T&Cs as some current accounts specifically state that they can’t be used for General Partnerships.

Regardless, using a Monzo account as part of a “General Partnership” would violate the T&Cs. I think that is clear cut.

The thing is, as I said, I don’t need a separate account for GP itself with any special features. My husband and I have a small partnership, and our current accounts would be sufficient for us. It is legal in England to use the account as an individual while being a partner. In terms of financial transactions, our activity is similar to that of self-employed. The only thing is that these transactions may be related to invoices in which, in addition to a personal name, the partnership is mentioned.

Thank you! Do I understand correctly that a person can use a current account as self-employed only if they are not in a partnership? And if they are, then they cannot? Was this confirmed by Monzo, or are you basing this on rules that can be found on its site?

You’re trying to cross a very fine line therefore exposing yourself to the risk of closure.

Monzo say don’t do it, regardless of what the law states in this respect; their business; their rules.

Monzo wouldn’t be breaking the law here, the law just states it’s possible to do so, not that businesses are enforced to allow you to use their personal platform for business related accounts, this can also restrict self employed.

It may be legal but still doesn’t mean it falls outside of Monzo’s terms.

I’d message Monzo and ask them to be on the safe side. Personally I’d say it falls outside of their terms.

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Yes, I understand that! I respect their rules, so I want to clarify a point that seems not entirely clear, namely, does the prohibition on using a current account as a partnership account extend to the use of the account by a partner in the same way as any other self-employed individual would use it?

Actually, I wrote here hoping to hear an official clarification from Monzo, but it seems I need to contact them in a different way.

Thank you! I probably made a mistake because I wrote on this forum hoping to hear an official response from Monzo. Do you think it’s better to contact them by email? Do they not provide official comments here?

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Some staff members occasionally look but it’s not an official support channel, so there’s no guarantee. I’d personally message in app for a faster response, but help@monzo.com would work also.

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Apologies when you said General Partner I assumed you meant a Partner in a Private Equity Fund.

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Generally speaking - if you were using your Monzo account solely to receive income, in the same way somebody would be receiving a salary then that would be okay on a current account.

If you would also be using the account for expenses incurred as part of the business / partnership then you wouldn’t be able to use a current account for this.

To try and add some clarity:

  • if you were a self employed software engineer who contracted out, worked from home and therefore didn’t really have any business expenses and only received payments for the work contracted that would be okay.
  • if you were self employed as a roofer (& effectively worked as a sole trader) and received income for jobs you’ve worked, but regularly had expenses such as buying materials, paying casual labour, and so on this wouldn’t be okay and you’d need a business account.
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Thank you very much, Dan! Am I correct in understanding that if we are a pair of software engineers, working as a partnership, simply receiving payments from clients and not having any other business expenses, we can use our current accounts?

Every circumstance is different - but the general situation that you’ve described shouldn’t be a problem :blush:

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