I wanna provide I.T tech support legitimately!

pstones578

I'm looking into providing end user home based I.T tech-support at evenings and weekends. I want it all 'above board' i.e. proper reciepts, declare earnings and all that. Anyone know where to start with this and are there any fee's I have to think of before I begin?

Tallymanjohn

Easiest way to keep track of things is to set up a business account to keep the earnings separate - also means you can have cheques made payable to a company name rather than yourself - looks better. If you're working in other people's houses then you need public liability insurance (in case you blow the electrics or put your foot through a wall etc.) shouldn't be much more than £100/year for your sort of business. If you're using your home as a business base (phone no. etc.), you may be best to advise the local authorities, but if you're not actually doing work in your own home then you shouldn't have to pay extra rates. It may be worth installing a separate phone line - with BT it's only an extra £10/month which you can offset against tax, & it means you won't tie up your home line, plus looks better than just a mobile number. Make sure your car is insured for business use - used to be included in most policies, but now you have to ask for it - doesn't add much to the premium.
Tell the taxman - failure to do so within certain time (I think it's 3 months) can bring you heavy penalties & also get you in his firing line. Finally, don't bother about an accountant initially - it's easier to just set up a spreadsheet with all your income/outgoings etc. & then use it to fill in your tax return at the end of the year. Our local tax office runs free seminars about setting up as sole trader & you can get loads of advice about how to do things correctly & what you can claim for against tax etc.

Pink.

Hi pstones,

You should get more help with this on the Small Business board so I'll move your thread over there.

Pink

richt71

pstones578 wrote: »

I'm looking into providing end user home based I.T tech-support at evenings and weekends. I want it all 'above board' i.e. proper reciepts, declare earnings and all that. Anyone know where to start with this and are there any fee's I have to think of before I begin?

I used to provide out of hours support for a few small ISP's up until a few years ago. I simply opened a separate bank account. I sent invoices to the companies for payment. I paid cheques into the seperate account and all business expenses came out of this account.

mikewebs

Hi there

I woudl think one of the first things you need to think about if you are offering tech support etc would be liability insurance. You wouldn't want to be sued within days of starting out on your venture and not being covered would you?

Kilty_2

Have a good read at http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/

It'll give you a good idea of what's involved.

You'll definately need to declare yourself as self employed and a business bank account is a good idea.

pstones578

What sort of insurance do I need to be getting?

motorguy

Oh, and good luck.

nannydiddy

Hi all, sorry to jump on your post pstones578, bit you are in the same predicament that I am in. I do web design (evenings and weekends) at home with OH and a friend. We really want to go 'ligit' but not sure how to go about it. We all work full time and are PAYE so registering as self employed would not work for us...and having read the business link web site it seems that my front room would be eligable for business rates!! I heard from someone that I can use a solicitors address as the complany address...is this correct...any advice, I'm beginning to feel like this is a non-starter before it's even started !!!

sorry i am rambling...any advice would be appreciated!

cheers.

fguk

Bit of a thread hi-jack, but anyway.....

You can be registered for extra earnings on top of PAYE, and I dont think your employer needs to know. However, it may be in your contract that you should inform them of any extra activities, and if you are a web designer for your employer, your contract may explicitly ban working on the side. Check your contract of employment!

If you are using your front room exclusively for business, and claiming various tax reliefs etc etc then yes you may be liable for rates. The people that can decide this (i think your local council) for you are quite friendly, ring them up and ask. I think they make an assesment visit if required.

You can use your accountant or solicitor as your registered address, in fact almost any address, with the permission of the owner. Post will get sent there so its best to do it with your accountant or solicitor who will hopefull forward anything important.

It is quite daunting to start up, but if you can fit it alongside current employment, and build up that way, it is easier than you might think! Imagine setting up a factory to build millions of widgets and the amount of investment required for that!!

Good luck with it.

Savvy_Sue

fguk wrote: »

If you are using your front room exclusively for business, and claiming various tax reliefs etc etc then yes you may be liable for rates.

But it's quite easy to 'share' the use of the room - for example having a small futon in there so that you can use it as the spare room when necessary.