~Avon Hints & Tips (Part 8) ~ Please read first post :)

trudiuk

Hi

I'm thinking of becoming a rep, but I was wondering about tax..

I know I have to register as self employed, I already work full-time and Avon will be a part time thing.

Am I right in thinking my earnings from Avon will be taxed using basic rate, BR code. I currently earn around £16k so trying to figure out if its worth doing Avon over one shift a week in a local pub. I know income is what you make it and not guaranteed

thanks x

I,_Geek

Tax when you have a full-time job and do Avon

What you'll do is, on your tax return about the 2014-2015 tax year, you'll tell them about your employed income, and a separate section about your Avon income.

It's your net profits from Avon that are taxable, which means the amount you're left over with after paying for all expenses. This is why it's important to deduct every expense you legally can.

HMRC will look at your combined taxable income to work out how much tax you owed during the 2014-2015 tax year.

If your combined income goes over the personal allowance of £10k, you'll pay 20p in every pound over that in tax.

Example 1:
Employed income £8k - under personal allowance so no tax taken at source.
Avon net profits £1k
Total income: £9k - so no tax owed.

Example 2:
Employed income: £9.5k - again, under personal allowance so no tax taken at source.
Avon net profits £1k
Total income: £10.5k
Less personal allowance of £10k: leaves £500 that's taxable.
20% of £500 is £100.

In example 2, you'd do your tax return and at the end it will tell you what your tax bill will be. You'll get a letter confirming what's owed. I try to do my husband and I's tax returns in May/June and we don't get a letter for the bill until December. You can always go online earlier and pay it.

Example 3:
Employed income: £12k - over personal allowance so tax has been taken at source. Your P60 will break it down.
Avon net profit: £1k
Total income: £13k
Less personal allowance of £10k = £3k that's taxable.
20% of £3k is £600

But... you've already paid some of that £600 owed through your employed job because they take that money straight away.

Using the numbers above, your employed income was £2k over the allowance. 20% of £2k is £400. So your P60 should show that £400 has already been paid in tax.

£600 minus the £400 already paid leaves £200, so at the end of the tax return in this example it should only be asking for the remaining £200.


Something to bear in mind while being self-employed is that, unlike employed income that's taxed at source (so you never see that money), the tax you pay on self-employed income is a bill that appears quite some time after you've earned it. It's important to have an idea of your finances as you go along and do your tax return sooner rather than later. The tax return about the previous year becomes available to fill out online in April, but the deadline's not until 31st Jan (31st October for paper ones). The sooner you do it, the sooner you can see your tax bill and put aside money or start saving to pay it.

In a nutshell, after all that - if you're already paying tax on your full-time job, think of every 20p of your Avon profits as being owed to the taxman. But you're still better off by 80p in every pound earned.

No matter what your tax situation, tax is only a percentage of your increased income so you're still better off at the end of the day.

emmam202

This is most probably in completely the wrong place so my apologies first of all!

I placed an order with an Avon rep on the 18th April, I still haven't received my order. When I contacted her she blamed Avon saying they had had some problems getting the right orders out and she was waiting to hear back from them. That was on the 15th May and I've heard nothing since.

Does this sound right or is she fobbing me off? I'd be a bit narked if she is as there were some good offers in the catalogue I ordered from and I'd also ordered a couple of bits on behalf of friends/family.

Thanks

I,_Geek

The rep's explanation is strange. I've done Avon for 4 years and have never heard of their depot having problems getting orders out (except for courier vans having trouble in extreme bad weather). The rep might be having problems with her credit limit or has just been disorganised. Either way, she should have managed to sort out the problem by now and should have been keeping you informed instead of leaving it this long with no contact. In the rep's defence, the situation could be down to poor training (if they're new), but good customer service is common sense so there's no excuse for no communication.

If you'd like to find a new rep, I'm just going to ask some online friends for a phone number. Avon has an online "Find a Rep" facility, but I've not heard good things about how user-friendly it is and at this point I don't want to create more hassle for you.

You can always say to your new rep that you'd like to order from the same brochure if possible. Even if you can't remember the brochure number, just describe the cover.

I'll get back to you with that phone number.

Dick_here

You could always order directly instead, I assume you've not paid your Rep yet. avonshop dot co dot uk

emmam202

I would do that but the deals have all finished now It was brochure 8 so not sure if I can still order from that?

Generally not had a great experience so far, tried to order through the iPhone app, heard nothing, got an email saying my order had been passed to another rep and then another email to say it had been cancelled.

Tried to find a rep to bring me a catalogue but the original woman who was supposed to drop one off never turned up. Eventually found someone else who did bring the catalogue and then this happens!

Might as well just do it myself!

I,_Geek

If you're comfortable, you could PM me your postcode (no need for house number ) and I'll ask in a private Facebook group if anyone knows someone in that area. The group is used by long-standing and committed reps, who know others as well, so hopefully one of them will be nearby.

I can understand why you'd rather go to the online shop, though. I didn't realise you'd already tried a few reps by this point.

pixtotts

Oh no thats so unfortunate so many nice reps and you keep ending up with dodgy ones
Its so sad because it puts other people off using find a rep, or just using a rep at all. I pretty much bend over backwards for my customers (one just mucked up an offer so worked my families orders around it so she could still have it for the same price), and then so many seem to just fob people off with nonesense.
Our last rep (3 or 4 years ago) used to take over a month to deliver to us!! I didn't realise how bad that was until I became a rep myself. She stopped bringing us books because we started asking where our order was why we were waiting soooo long...She also appears before me in find a rep so people go to her first ggrr! lol
X

2+4

Hi, I apologise if I am repeating old questions. My daughter would like to start Avon. She would like to sell to her friends, family and I would take into my work. There is a few things that may cause difficulties, the main one being she is only 15 yrs, the second is there is a rep just along the rood from us. Any help on this would be great. Thank you in advance...

pixtotts

2+4 wrote: »

Hi, I apologise if I am repeating old questions. My daughter would like to start Avon. She would like to sell to her friends, family and I would take into my work. There is a few things that may cause difficulties, the main one being she is only 15 yrs, the second is there is a rep just along the rood from us. Any help on this would be great. Thank you in advance...

Unfortunately you have to be over 18 to become an Avon rep. x