Receipts - what to keep???

devmcc

Well good morning all...
Just a quickie.... not sure if this is the right place for this - please feel free to move me along!!

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...;)

ormus

im not too sure what the current situation is with digital accounts/bookeeping. it certainly used to be that a hard copy was required of invoices etc.
one thing i would say, is make sure you do regular backups (once a day/week?) onto other media ie a cd.
if you had a hdd failure where would you be then???

ps. you need at least a simple spreadsheet, to keep track of everything.

TKPeters

Subscribe to sales reports (free)
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/sales-reports-ov.html

You can download a file each month showing how many sales you've had & the money received in sales & spent in fee's with eBay & Paypal.

If you have a eBay shop, Sales Reports Plus is included for free but you still have to subscribe to it for £3.00pm (£2.55 + Vat) which is refunded at the end of each month

As the files are archived for 2 years, you only need to keep the invoices & receipts from suppliers & PO to enable you to complete a self assessment.

Also if you use Selling Manager Pro, you have Reporting which gives you a profit/loss inc eBay/Paypal fee's & a record of each item sold which is also downloadable

windswept

If you don't want to print off every invoice, how about getting a duplicate receipt book? then you could write some kind of identifying number to correspond with the receipt for the item, I am assuming that you dont buy things from suppliers who provide invoices?
everything needs to be easily cross referenced should you ever need an accountant or if hmrc come knocking!
I print every ebay invoice off but I also use the receipt book for off-internet sales.
If you make some sort of spreadsheet for sales then you could print off a monthly sales record as well or maybe you can print off a monthly ebay sales record. I use an old fashioned accounting book for this instead.

ormus

assuming you are registered for vat, they will come and visit you for sure, within 1 year, (maybe 2 yrs).

TKPeters

ormus wrote: »

assuming you are registered for vat, they will come and visit you for sure, within 1 year, (maybe 2 yrs).

That is why eBay archive the sales reports for 2 years which can be downloaded & used with Excel

ormus

oh aye, and we all trust ebay not to change anything, next week? next month?
telling the vatman that the reason you havent got some account records, is that ebay messed up, is not an option.

windswept

TKPeters wrote: »

Subscribe to sales reports (free)
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/sales-reports-ov.html

You can download a file each month showing how many sales you've had & the money received in sales & spent in fee's with eBay & Paypal.

If you have a eBay shop, Sales Reports Plus is included for free but you still have to subscribe to it for £3.00pm (£2.55 + Vat) which is refunded at the end of each month

As the files are archived for 2 years, you only need to keep the invoices & receipts from suppliers & PO to enable you to complete a self assessment

I don't know how I missed that one, I have now subscribed and it means that I will only have to print off a couple of sheets instead of one for ebay fees, one for paypal fees and a whole lot for invoice copies!
thanks for that.
Dont forget to keep all your receipts for expenses! they do add up, packaging, tape, paper, ink, business mileage,etc. etc. etc.( even magazine subscrptions, if they are relevant to your business).

TKPeters

& then if you work from home, the % of expenses for business internet usage, heating, etc

devmcc

Thanks all so much... Do you know when I subscribe for the Sales report if it will backdate for two years or is it from the day you join??

p.s Not VAT registered - nowhere near!!!!
Thanks so much.....

windswept

TKPeters wrote: »

& then if you work from home, the % of expenses for business internet usage, heating, etc

Bit of a dodgy area that, if you claim for home business use, there can be serious implications regarding house insurance and potential cgt if you sell your home, which is deemed to also be a business premises. you need to think carefully whether you want/need to claim for this.;)
the only thing I am going to put down is a second phone line.