Self employment - small garden business
Options
Brighter
Posts: 10 Forumite
Hi all
Looking for a bit of reassurance I'm doing and keeping things correct in terms of keeping records for self employment.
I lost my job and decided to start a small lawn cutting and gardening business. I purchased a mower and already had the various other tools i needed for the time being until I hopefully get bigger. I have kept receipt for mower.
I have registered as a sole trader, have a separate bank account so all my earnings be it cash, bank transfer or cheque get put into this account. I have a seperate account for everything else.
When I do a job I create an invoice which is numbered it's shows the total cost of job and how and when the customer paid. A lot of the time the customer does not want an invoice and pays me the cash or cheque on the day. I still create an invoice for myself and file it in a file along with the bank receipt showing the money was put into the account. Sometimes one receipt will be a total of a couple of weeks as I don't get chance to get to the bank. I then wrote the appropriate invoices numbers on the reciept. I also keep receipts for anything I need to purchase, like fuel for the mower or new equipment, leaflets, business cards etc and everything gets kept in a reciept box. Sometimes I pay cash for certain things using change so obviously the money hasn't come from my business account, will I still be able to claim this back on my self assessment as expenses?
I'm jus trying wondering if I am doing things correctly? This is my first time as self employed so please bare with for the simple questions!
Also, when the weather improves (if ever) I plan to go around asking people if they'd want the grass cutting or hedges cutting etc etc, how would this work with invoices? Because the likely hood is they will pay me cash and that will be that and I'd feel a bit silly if I started asking them for full name, address etc to do an invoice. But I still need to declare the income, could I accumulate it and put it all in as one lump sum and create an invoice stating this?
Many thanks in advance
Looking for a bit of reassurance I'm doing and keeping things correct in terms of keeping records for self employment.
I lost my job and decided to start a small lawn cutting and gardening business. I purchased a mower and already had the various other tools i needed for the time being until I hopefully get bigger. I have kept receipt for mower.
I have registered as a sole trader, have a separate bank account so all my earnings be it cash, bank transfer or cheque get put into this account. I have a seperate account for everything else.
When I do a job I create an invoice which is numbered it's shows the total cost of job and how and when the customer paid. A lot of the time the customer does not want an invoice and pays me the cash or cheque on the day. I still create an invoice for myself and file it in a file along with the bank receipt showing the money was put into the account. Sometimes one receipt will be a total of a couple of weeks as I don't get chance to get to the bank. I then wrote the appropriate invoices numbers on the reciept. I also keep receipts for anything I need to purchase, like fuel for the mower or new equipment, leaflets, business cards etc and everything gets kept in a reciept box. Sometimes I pay cash for certain things using change so obviously the money hasn't come from my business account, will I still be able to claim this back on my self assessment as expenses?
I'm jus trying wondering if I am doing things correctly? This is my first time as self employed so please bare with for the simple questions!
Also, when the weather improves (if ever) I plan to go around asking people if they'd want the grass cutting or hedges cutting etc etc, how would this work with invoices? Because the likely hood is they will pay me cash and that will be that and I'd feel a bit silly if I started asking them for full name, address etc to do an invoice. But I still need to declare the income, could I accumulate it and put it all in as one lump sum and create an invoice stating this?
Many thanks in advance
0
Comments
-
Yes it seems that way.
You don't even need a separate account - but it is sensible to have one.
You also don't need to invoice, just keep records.
e.g. 05.03.18 - £40 - 15 A Street0 -
Excellent, thankyou.0
-
Just another quick question. When I started I also planned to offer 'handy man' services so when I set up my sole trader I put myself as s handyman. However as time has gone on all my work has been garden related. When I registered I put my name as just my name. E.g. Joe Bloggs. However now because I tend to get garden work I advertise as 'JB garden maintenance' does this make a difference? It's still me obviously just using a different name as it looks better.
Thanks0 -
No-one's going to care, but if you produce invoices you probably need them to state the name as on your bank account, followed by t/a (trading as) whatever.
So using your example, your invoice would be Joe Bloggs, trading as JB garden maintenance: cheques to be made payable to Joe Bloggs.
I think I've got that the right way round ...
But personally, I'd encourage people to pay direct to your bank account and put your bank details on your invoices.Signature removed for peace of mind0 -
Agree with above - as you get to know your regular customers you could try to encourage them to pay using BACS.
Some of mine are now on monthly invoicing, it cuts down on paperwork and I believe making it easy for customers - so a once a month payment is less hassle then weekly or two weekly.
Another way to invoice is to buy pre numbered and headed invoice books. Take them with you when working, each job just write customer details, amount and how paid. You don't have to give them to your customer but it is your record of the transaction and there is less to do when you get home.0 -
Hey Brighter. If you don!!!8217;t mind I!!!8217;ve just sent you a quick private message with a query. Hope you don!!!8217;t mind. Thanks mate.0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 343.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 449.7K Spending & Discounts
- 235.3K Work, Benefits & Business
- 608K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 173.1K Life & Family
- 247.9K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
- 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards