self employment starting out , what do i need ?

izzzzythedog

Ive been offered a window cleaning round by my old next door neighbour , hes getting on a bit and so is knocking it on the head after 50 odd years , the round is lets say affordable and will bring in about 350-375ish a week before expenses , im guessing ex`s will be around the £50 a week so its well worth doing IMO

however i have no idea of where to start in all this , i feel i must tell someone be it the tax man or whomever , i also wondered if it would be worth seeking out an accountant or aiming to do my books myself given the ease of in and outgoings , i also wondered if it would be in my interest to purchase a new vehicle which i could then weigh in against this tax as i wouldnt want to wear out my present car and have no financial gain given i would then in time need to replace this , i wondered if anyone could point me in the direction of a simple a-z in self employment and how to go about it , google has let me down and i cant find anything in search on here

im not signing on and no in receipt of any benefits

any help would be very appreciated

Charityworker

Contact the HMRC and register as self employed. You can do it online. If your claiming JSA sign off and apply for working tax credit. Go to your local HB office and let them know you are starting as self employed. They will want to see your accounts every 3 months.

colino

Go to Business Link/Business Gateway in Scotland and get the free information and seminars available to you. Do not get an accountant, a repetitive business such as this can easily be properly recorded in a simple notebook.
Remember to shop around for insurance too, a lot of commercial insurers seem to be getting competitive again.

david69_2

With regards to a vehicle if you do buy something just for your business you can either claim the mileage 45p a mile or offset the purchase cost and all bills petrol ,garage bills etc
If its in a small area and you wont be doing many miles I'd go for the second option

daz378

if i remember correctly and if it still applies , you can offset part of your phonebill against expenses for tax, though you may be able to run your bu siness off a simplex D book or a basic computer accounts software, if you do most of the work yourself and then research cost of accountant , to sign off on them , he may save you more in tax than it costs......small caveat it is 15 years since i worked on business accounts

Notmyrealname

izzzzythedog wrote: »

i also wondered if it would be in my interest to purchase a new vehicle which i could then weigh in against this tax as i wouldnt want to wear out my present car and have no financial gain given i would then in time need to replace this ,

Don't bother. The last thing you want to be doing right now is spending money when you're going to need it to live on over winter as you're buying into the business at the wrong time of year. There will be very few oppportunities for cleaning windows over the next four months due to bad weather. Most window cleaners make the bulk of their money from March to October and live on it for the rest of the year.

A vehicle for your business as a sole trader is something you buy once it looks like you're going to be presented with a fairly large tax bill if you've already got one that'll do the job.

Savvy_Sue

izzzzythedog wrote: »

Ive been offered a window cleaning round by my old next door neighbour , hes getting on a bit and so is knocking it on the head after 50 odd years , the round is lets say affordable and will bring in about 350-375ish a week before expenses , im guessing ex`s will be around the £50 a week so its well worth doing IMO

What's he selling you, a list of names and addresses? No guarantee any of them will want to pay YOU to clean their windows, especially if you're not as good as he is. If this was something you really wanted to do, you could just start your own round.

If he's throwing in his equipment as well, you might want to check whether it's up to the job in today's window cleaning market. The days of the lone window cleaner skipping up a ladder with a bucket of water are dying: now it's all extension poles, distilled water, and a tank for disposal of dirty water: I don't think you can just chuck it down the drain any more.

And have you seen his books? I can understand chucking it in after 50 years, but is that also because it's not making a profit any more?

izzzzythedog wrote: »

google has let me down and i cant find anything in search on here

You've had some good advice already, but the most useful place here is probably the Small Biz board.

izzzzythedog

thanks 1 and all , you guys and girls are heros for the info you offer so many many thanks :T

for clarity

s/sue
the fella is allowing myself to merge into the business , i will work along side him for 2 weeks at which point he will be there everyday but not doing anything except showing pointers , the round itself is a mix of businesses and private , hes now 72 so its fair to say his customers are loyal and part of myself and him working together is so he can go around introducing myself plus handing out flowers to people he cares about , as for the tools of the trade i will buy new regardless as i want my own gear , as you say its not walking the streets with a ladder these days , it even involves using a cherry picker at one company . Ive not seen his books as presented to the tax office but have seen his little black book which he carrys around ticking off payment and how much plus what days work hes to do , the reflection of this shows a healthy turnover plus also shows just how little he does! , chance of expansion then maybe ? got to walk before running , i would expect a downturn in poor weather and over winter and playing with waters no fun in the snow etc so chances are ill go on holiday then


and thanks guys and girls regarding the vehicle , ive had a quote in and its not as bad as expected for my present car ( a people carrier ) , this is an old car mind and had to have a new starter fitted today , im a little loathe to use it , our other car is a diesel bmw X5 so thats out of the frame for usage , perhaps the best bet is to run it into the ground and as mentioned buy a new van pre the tax bill , could be a plan

Notmyrealname

Well it looks to me that unlike a lot of people, you've done your homework on this so are in a better position than any of us to know if it'll succeed or not. How the current owner is migrating the business to you sounds quite good. If you can afford to survive over the quiet period, go for it!