Going Self Employed

fengirl_2

Can I just emphasise what I said in my first post - you need to register with HMRC asap - there is no longer 3 months' grace.

Trespasser

As far as insurance goes ...... you will need to change your vehicle insurance to cover business use, you will need indemnity insurance (i think its indemnity) in case you cause damage to a customers premises or do something stupid with a computer, if your working from a shop or something you'll need public liability ...you never know how stupid some customers can be, and I have seen one guy put his fingers in the fan of an open pc .... apparently he wanted to see if it was turned on ..... the dangley skin and blood from the end of his finger assured him it was.

I have been quoted £100 on top of my car insurance to cover business use, my public liability is also £100 for £5M cover

chrisb1357

Just come back to this thread after not being on the forums for a few weeks. Still thinking of going Self Employed due to still being out of work now 6 months and that i cannot claim income based job seekers due to my gf being classed as able to support me being out of work.

Trespasser

chrisb1357 wrote: »

Just come back to this thread after not being on the forums for a few weeks. Still thinking of going Self Employed due to still being out of work now 6 months and that i cannot claim income based job seekers due to my gf being classed as able to support me being out of work.

I was in the same boat, partner working and earning more than than allocated £94 per week that the idiots in parliment say we need to live on. To be honest as I have said before I should have done it back in september as soon as I was made redundant from my last job.

What have you got to lose? You have no Dss payment as a safety net and they will only get worse and pressure you more to take the first crud job that comes along. You might as well give it a go and see how you get along over the next 12 months.

Horace

When you are self employed and on low income, you can apply for working tax credits too.

leveller2911

I've been self employed for 23 yrs and up until recently always used a normal current account with HSBC.They have now moved me to a business account with 18 months of free banking.I did'nt wish to have a business acc but was told it was policy.
There is NO lawful reason for sole traders to be made to have a business account so as soon as the 18 months is up I will be opening another current acc somewhere else.
It really is just another way for banks to sc*ew small business.Apparently accounts are "flagged" up if "substantial" amounts are deposited regularly,in my case about £6,000 per month......

Good luck .......insist on a current account

Trespasser

Horace wrote: »

When you are self employed and on low income, you can apply for working tax credits too.

Yes.

I get £237 per month (4 x weekly)

chrisb1357

When going Self Employd as a Sole Trader do you need to register for a VAT Number stright away as the same time as calling HRMC to Registerd as Self Employd and Tax.

CHris

schneckster

A note on working from home...

In your books, you want to charge your self employed business rent per week. But you want to think of it as renting the use of office space that has uses other than for your business. The minute you refer to it as space dedicated to the business, you get charged council tax at business rate on the proportion of the property that is set aside for the business.

If you charge your business things like electricity, use of phones (unless you get a separate line in), etc., you lead yourself towards dedicated facilities again. So, the trick is to make the rent you charge cover all of that.

And of course, the rent you do set up comes off your profits, and therefore, your tax bill ;o)

I was told this by HMRC when I started out. I think I settled on a figure around £15 per week as I was mostly out of the house anyway, but sit down and work it out for your business.

Schneckster

chrisb1357

Many thanks for that advice, How do i go about this if i am living with family but in my room is where my desk/pc and office space is.

Chris

schneckster wrote: »

A note on working from home...

In your books, you want to charge your self employed business rent per week. But you want to think of it as renting the use of office space that has uses other than for your business. The minute you refer to it as space dedicated to the business, you get charged council tax at business rate on the proportion of the property that is set aside for the business.

If you charge your business things like electricity, use of phones (unless you get a separate line in), etc., you lead yourself towards dedicated facilities again. So, the trick is to make the rent you charge cover all of that.

And of course, the rent you do set up comes off your profits, and therefore, your tax bill ;o)

I was told this by HMRC when I started out. I think I settled on a figure around £15 per week as I was mostly out of the house anyway, but sit down and work it out for your business.

Schneckster