Debt, redundancy and other things...

lottie26_2

Good luck being self employed i'm sure the work will roll in xx

Debt_Free_Chick

skintchick wrote:

No I don;t have an accountant - I can do maths and I can't afford to pay someone!

I don't have one either. To be honest, for the nature of the work you'll do, you can probably manage without one - but do go for one of those Inland Revenue help appointments (earlier link). Despite what a lot of people think, the Inland Revenue want you to claim the allowances you're entitled to and the help appointment will explain it all. You can also call them at any time for help/clarification.

You might find it more convenient to have your business year-end as 6 April, to co-incide with the tax year (otherwise you have to apportion your income according to the tax year anyway, which is just an avoidable faff!).

One final piece of advice.... try to set aside a particular day in the week when you do your books. As well as recording expenses from your receipts, record your overheads (even if you work from home, as you can claim something). And do your accounts and tax return in May .... don't wait for the following January!

Good luck

fairylights_2

Debt_Free_Chick wrote:

And do your accounts and tax return in May .... don't wait for the following January!

I have to admit, I'm floored by the people that wait until January. Mine was done the moment it arrived (in fact, I was ringing them the week before to ask when my paperwork would be through) so I could straighten everything up and file the year away. Plus we have to inform tax credits of our final income so they don't overpay us the next year. It was a relief when everyone else was stressed last week to know I have nothing to worry about (even less since I had a £0 bill!)

BobProperty

skintchick wrote:

No I don;t have an accountant - I can do maths and I can't afford to pay someone!

And I'm not on the tax board cos whenever I go off this board I end up with people being nasty to me!! I like it here.

Oh - and your sig...it's whose not who's, which means who is, that's why the apostrophe is there, to indicate the missing letter.

Alright I'm biased on the first point as my accountant is a friend I've known for 25 years, but I would hope an accountant would "pay their way" by identifiying savings etc. that you may not be aware of.
Tax board - I'll watch out for them then. How can they be nasty to someone like you
Signature - You know, it never looked right when I wrote it . Do you know who said it though?

tipsychick

I've been self-employed/sole trader for the last seven years. I would say definitely get an accountant. When I did, she saved me a fortune and claimed back expenses for previous tax years where I'd been muddling through on my own. They know exactly what you can claim "safely" without incurring the wrath of the Inland Revenue!

I think you need to be a bit careful about claiming use of a room as an office in your home or when you come to sell your property a percentage of it can be regarded as a commercial property or something... Also claiming car expenses, petrol, etc. I found fairly complicated to work out. You're meant to keep a log of all car journeys that you do as the Inland Revenue can demand to see it. On a separate note, you might be able to claim the cost of the laptop. My accountant advised I had a separate phone line put in for all business telephone calls and of course, my Broadband is now on it (only ever use it for business purposes!) Obviously any stationery costs, mobile calls, etc. you can claim. I was also advised to have a separate business bank account, so if I do get investigated the Inland Revenue won't be able to trawl through my personal account and see how much I spend in Sainsburys!

As previously said, I'm pretty sure you can't claim for clothes, shoes, make up unless you're a model or actress or something. I tried claiming for meals out (allegedly entertaining clients!) but my accountant said a pretty firm no to that one!

Good luck skintchick!