Join in if you are self-employed and work from home

Ballymackeonan

Hi everyone - amd particular thanks to Wordsmith for starting this thread! I went self-employed in 1994, after redundancy, and there have been ups and downs since... I found that I loved the flexibility of self-employment, especially since at that point I was also caring for my elderly mother and aunt, and could "make up" time at 1AM if necessary!

My background is accountancy, but since I went self-employed I've branched out into IT, some web design and writing, marketing, training start-up businesses etc.

There have been ups and downs - my own credit crunch came about 2002, when I lost 75% of my income overnight... and there was another in 2005, when a business I'd done a lot of work for went bust. At that time I took on a part-time job as a legal bookkeeper, about 1½ days per week, not well paid but at least a regular income, and also sold some stuff on Ebay. But there were the days of relying on the credit cards and shifting money between accounts just in time to pay the bills.

A couple of tips - never do work for friends - they've been my worst bad debts... and open a credit union account and save regularly in it, even a small amount.. I've found them a lot more flexible than the banks if you want a small loan. And do keep your records up to date - there is a tendency to think "if it isn't on paper it can't be happening". Despite my background I did this in one of the bad years, and it was a nightmare to sort out.

As far as I'm concerned, I still prefer self-employment with all its risks. I hope that you all get the same buzz out of it!

Horace

Bally, thanks for the tip about a credit union, I hadn't thought of saving that way.

I have had a productive morning workwise today, I have been speaking to an aquaintance who runs her own bridal and prom couture shop and it looks like I will be able to sell the auction stuff in her shop, she is going to have a look at what I have and has said that in April we can hold a sale in her shop and get rid of it all - of course we would have to split the profits, I am hoping for a 70/30 split with most going to me as I bought the stuff anyway. :j

I love being self employed - its the best thing that I have ever done.:D

mrelephant_2

just curious as i may consider becoming self emloyed working for an agency as my current fulltime job is facing redundancy and was wondering if there is any difference in what a self employed person pays overall against the tax i'm currently paying as an employed person.

I know the question may be a bit vague and that self employed tax may depend on the type of employment i was to undertake, but as a genaral rule are both taxes similar overall ie @ 30%?

cheekymonkey20

Just designing some flyers to put round to get my 36 sales to get the laptop and first months broker fee paid. what do you think??

I have also put another threat up on the housebuying board about enless list of problems with new build propertys, your feedback would be great.

Cheers

cheekymonkey

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Ballymackeonan

Mr Elephant - when you're self-employed, you can claim for a lot of business expenses that you couldn't when you were employed. For instance, if you needed a car to get to work, you couldn't claim anything as an employee (or if you had a company car you were taxed on it.) You can claim either the part of your overall motor expenses that relates to the business use, or keep a record of your business miles and claim a mileage rate. You can claim for phone, stationery, advertising, computer etc - so the amount that is taxed is less than your total income.

In my first year of self-employment I earned abour £3,000 gross more than I had in employment, and paid about the same tax because of expenses I could claim.

The downside is that you have to budget for the two big tax payments a year, in January and July (the worst times - after Christmas and at holiday time!) rather than having it deducted from wages. It's a good idea to set something aside in a separate account - it's then building up against your tax bill.

mrelephant_2

Another question is: i am currently paying off 47k debts and have a zero credit rating, would this stop me being allowed going self employed with an agency such as Betterware or similar whereby i wouldn't need to borrow any money for business outlay as it's all commision based? Some agencies such as Kleeneeze and Avon you have to buy catalouges and stationary but with Betterware you don't.

skintjenny

hi all
am about to take the plunge into self employment and am wobbling between excitement and total fear!
currently i work nights in a supermarket and its really getting me down, im tired all the time, get no sunlight, no social life and have no motivation. My doctor put me on anti depressants but i think what i really need is to escape this job!
what i am going to do (tremble) is hand in my notice in the 1st april, then leave forever on 1st of may. im terrified as have no real savings, so after aprils paycheck runs out im not sure where ill get money from until cash flow sorts itself out... how did everyone else cope at the beginning?
so glad i found this thread, think its just what i needed for a kick up the bum!

tyllwyd

Ballymackeonan wrote: »

Mr Elephant - when you're self-employed, you can claim for a lot of business expenses that you couldn't when you were employed. For instance, if you needed a car to get to work, you couldn't claim anything as an employee (or if you had a company car you were taxed on it.) You can claim either the part of your overall motor expenses that relates to the business use, or keep a record of your business miles and claim a mileage rate. You can claim for phone, stationery, advertising, computer etc - so the amount that is taxed is less than your total income. ...

Only thing is, you actually have to spend the money out before you can claim it as expenses - so if you compare it to when you work in an office and your employer pays for all your stationery, postage etc, then don't you think this cancels out a lot of the benefit? I guess a good accountant can help you make the most of this but for me personally, from the tax point of view I don't think I am any better off than I was when I worked in the office.

Mr Elephant - Unless you are going to go down the route of starting up a limited company, income tax is paid at the same rate as if you are employed - nothing up to your personal allowance, then 20% basic then 40% higher rate. There is a difference in the National insurance, but nothing major.

tyllwyd

Mother's day - and both kids woke up in the night with a bad dream and ended up in our bed. I had to bring one downstairs to lie on the sofa with me at 5am ... so now everyone else is asleep so I may as well do some work.

skintjenny

oh dear tyllwyd, not the best start to the day, but it can only improve! and atleast you get some peace
i went for a walk down by all the pubs and clubs after work this morning to see if i could find any loose change to scavenge, came back with a grand total of::: zilch- well not entirely zilch, i did find a biro, but that wont pay the rent!
perhaps that isnt the way i shall make my fortune!