Working from home - advice please

mechbee

Hello, this is my first post. I would appreciate any advice from anyone with any experinece of my question.

I am a student in the UK, but looking to earn some extra income from home. Do I need to have a company set up to do this? i.e. if I want to offer private tutoring to some family/friends and charge for the service do I need to have a business set up to do this or can I just operate privately?

If I can operate privately, what is the maximum I can earn without having set up an official company and can I keep this seperate from any other earnings I may have?

Finally, can anyone point me in the direction from more information, i.e. a work from home advice centre and laws/regs I need to consider?

Thank-you very much

GTFC

Hiya,

I have been working as a freelancer from home since 2002 and I have never set up a proper company. Unless you are likely to incur costs and want to limit your liability against bad debt (which sounds unlikely) there is no need to become a Limited Company, so you can just operate as a Sole Trader. The only thing you do need to do is let the tax office know as it can affect National Insurance contributions. I think you have to do this even if you are a student - check at least!

There is no maximum beyond which you have to go Limited that I am aware of. It's just down to a personal choice based on the type of business you have. There is a threshold for registering for VAT but that's around £60k per annum so unlikely to be an issue in the short term. An accountant would be able to advise on all of this. Have a look at SJD Accountancy's website. There is lots of useful info on there and they specialise in working with freelancers and contractors. There is also a site for freelancers called FreelanceUK which again has lots of useful advice.

Hope that helps!

Cheers,

Gill

fengirl_2

There is no need to set up a company - the costs would far outweigh any benefits. Most tutors just trade under their own name. There is no minimum income to set up a company - there are even non trading companies, but as I said, there is no need for this.
Its good practice to open a separate bank account to put all your income and expenditure through and of course you need to keep accurate records of all your income (copy invoices to clients) and expenditure (receipts) so that you can produce your annual accounts.
If you are going to tutor from home, you need to make sure that your tenancy agreement allows this and that you have public liability insurance.
If your income from all sources is likely to be above the NIC limit (£6035 in this tax year), then you need to register as self employed with HMRC.

GTFC

fengirl wrote: »

Its good practice to open a separate bank account to put all your income and expenditure through and of course you need to keep accurate records of all your income (copy invoices to clients) and expenditure (receipts) so that you can produce your annual accounts.

It is good practice, but business bank accounts can be costly. As long as you track your business income and expenditure separately (an Excel spreadsheet is fine!) then a separate bank account is not essential. I don't use one and have been trading for years just using my personal bank account. Much easier and far cheaper!

eSnoozer

If you're still a student it's fine, you don't need to set up a company unless you really want to or you plan on making it a long term thing.

Business Link is a good place to start if you want to read up on some more info: businesslink.gov.uk

Alberto_Sousa

mechbee wrote: »

Hello, this is my first post. I would appreciate any advice from anyone with any experinece of my question.

I am a student in the UK, but looking to earn some extra income from home. Do I need to have a company set up to do this? i.e. if I want to offer private tutoring to some family/friends and charge for the service do I need to have a business set up to do this or can I just operate privately?

If I can operate privately, what is the maximum I can earn without having set up an official company and can I keep this seperate from any other earnings I may have?

Finally, can anyone point me in the direction from more information, i.e. a work from home advice centre and laws/regs I need to consider?

Thank-you very much

U can start a web site and blog. and wrtite ur tutoril Ebook - Many people all over the world then can buy ur e-book as a tutoril. or u can also gives then as a free gift. - Thanks..