Receipts for sales???????

devmcc

Well good morning all...
Just a quickie....
I trade on ebay - and am registered as Self Employed - as I am a sole trader with a straight forward business I am going to do my own tax returns.
What kind of paperwork do I need to keep in relation to my sales - I keep all my receipts to confirm how much I paid for the item but do not have anything to prove how much I sold it for.. Do I need to print off every invoice?? This would end up at about 150 per month!! I will need another house - not toooo mention ink costs!!
Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer...;)

Debt_Free_Chick

Ideally, yes - you do need to print off each invoice. Or if there's a monthly summary, that would do.

Remember you also need to include the cost of any P&P too.

At the end of the year, you need to know the total of all the sales you made and the total of what it cost you to buy the goods. You also need the total for your overheads - telephone, use of home as office etc.

You need to be able to "prove" all the above if HMRC decide to investigate you. You could simply not keep paperwork in the hope you are never investigated, but if you are, then you could find it difficult to prove your accounts and this might lead to a penalty or a further tax charge :eek:

It really is best to get into the habit of keeping paperwork; in good order; and filing it every week. I'd also suggest you maintain a spreadsheet or some other system, so that preparing your accounts at the end of the year is easier.

HTH

Debt_Free_Chick

Can you save an electronic copy of each invoice rather than printing it off? If you do, you MUST make sure you take regular backups in case you ever need to print off invoices e.g. for an HMRC investigation.

powerbase

I think electronic version with at least one backup and only print out a summary for the month. Print on both sides of the paper and select "draft" or lower quality on your printer settings to save ink.

File things away neatly (it amazing how much less space it takes up). It does take up room but a good second-hand filing cabinet or even those storage boxes (lidl has some cheap at the minute) should sort that out.

Good luck.