When you sign up as a Zuno operative we ask how your business is set up. This is so we can pay you correctly and meet our HMRC reporting obligations. You pick one of three structures, then enter the tax or company identifier that goes with it.

If you're not sure which one you are, that's normal — most people working for themselves are sole traders unless they've actively incorporated a company. The summary below should make it clear.

Sole trader

You work for yourself, you're personally self-employed, and you pay tax through Self Assessment each year. You haven't set up a separate limited company through Companies House. Most independent valeters fall into this bracket.

What we need: your National Insurance number (looks like AB123456C). You'll find this on your payslip, P60, or any HMRC letter. If you've lost it, you can recover it on the HMRC app or at gov.uk/lost-national-insurance-number.

Limited company

You've set up a private limited company through Companies House — it's a separate legal entity that you direct. Your company is paid rather than you personally. If you don't know what this means, you almost certainly aren't one.

What we need:

• UTR — your company's Unique Taxpayer Reference. A 10-digit number HMRC sent you when the company was set up. It's also on your Corporation Tax correspondence.
• CRN — your Company Registration Number from Companies House. 8 characters (usually digits, sometimes mixed letters and digits). You can look this up for free at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk.

Partnership

You and at least one other person run a business together and share the profits. The partnership itself has its own HMRC tax reference. This is less common than sole trader for valeting work.

What we need: the partnership's UTR (10 digits, from HMRC). This is the partnership's reference — not your personal UTR.

Can I change my answer later?

Yes — if your structure changes (for example you incorporate a limited company), email [email protected] and we'll update the record. We don't currently expose this on the operative dashboard because it's rare and easy to get wrong; doing it through support means we can keep your tax history clean.

Still unsure?

If none of the above quite matches your situation, email [email protected] with a short description of how you're set up and we'll point you at the right answer. We'd rather you ask now than guess and have to correct it later.