Newly self employed - need help with my books!

DazzaMc

Hi everyone. Set up as self employed in january - I'm a piano teacher so I can't imagine my books will be too hard to keep but I've put it off until now, and I'm a bit confused. Ok my main expenditure is my car. I haven't been counting my mileage to be honest, and don't have many students so have been able to work out how many miles I've done using a route finder. I've seen that you can claim 40p a mile for your car expenditure. Is that right?
The other way I've been told is to put everything through - insurance, petrol, etc.. through the books and work out a percentage to deduct from your tax returns...

The first option looks simpler to be honest, but does that mean I can't put repairs and insurance etc.. through my books? Will I lose out this way?

Hope that made sense.

Thanks

Ballymackeonan

It's quite a complex area, will depend on a number of things - for instance, the value of your car, how high your insurance is. Keep a record of all mileage, both business and private, then you can work out a rough proportion of motor expenses against a mileage claim and see what is best.

You can also claim phone, stationery, advertising etc., costs of music, and possibly capital allowance on your piano.

Horace

Why not contact the HMRC as they offer courses on how to fill in a self assessment form and included in that are details of what you can claim?

I keep a little notebook in my car where I note down the mileage used when travelling on business (thankfully my little car has two trip meters so I just set one of them to zero when I go out on business).

Also, pop in to your local chamber of commerce as they very often run courses for start up businesses which cover legal stuff (insurance etc), how to keep books, business plans - and they are all free. My local one is great and they helped me with my business plan and with my books. I have no income yet but I note down all my expenditure - the income will come soon and that will be noted down separately.

-BA-

There are various organisations out there that give advice and support to newly started business. A quick google search brought up http://www.businesslinkyorkshire.co.uk/ and I am sure some of the tips on there will prove useful. Some organisations are also in a position to give actual support even if you are already trading so a phone call to them might be worth a go.