New biz...stupid Questions

Something

Hi

I am about to ask a few silly questions, so please be kind.

My wife is soon to be helping an ongoing business (located outside the EU) as consultant, basically the company important items from the UK, and she does all the paperwork, phone calls etc, to make things go smoothly.
For transparency purposes (for tax etc) she obviously wants to have a seperate account from her normal bank account.

1. She will be using this account purely for receiving her earnings from the company (outside the EU), she will NOT be making any company payments, or doing anything with the account, apart from transferring money to her normal bank account (to live on), and obviously for paying her tax (as a sole trader)...my question...does she even need a business bank account, or will it be more simple to open another debit account and do it through there?

2. She is about to apply online as a sole trader, they will send her her unique account number, I believe she can do her tax returns online, is this simple, will she just put in the numbers (dates and earnings) and will it be calculated for her?, how long does it take to submit one return (10 minutes, 3 hours)?

3. For each payment, she will have to send an invoice,will the company paying her have to send back receipt of this payment, or will the invoice suffice for the records (obviously she will have documents of the sale going through also)?

Thanks again.

paddyrg

Firstly - just to check - really check - is this a real job? Please understand I am just checking as that job description reads very similarly to scam jobs where she would end up losing thousands and maybe facing prosecution!

I am happy to have a private look at the circumstances if you like, or scamwarners.com will give entirely anonymous, free, unbiased information. If nothing else, search the internet hard for the company name, personal names etc., for any mentions. I would hate for her dreams to be abused, it is VERY common and sometimes quite sophisticated and difficult to tell for the uninitiated.

Something

Its a real job with a real company that exports items from the UK, she knows them personally (its a family business), and they do quite well from it, it is by no means a scam company.
They need someone in the UK who they can trust, and can speak the correct languages. She has worked for them before when she lived there.

Thanks for your concerns however Paddy

paddyrg

Brilliant! Thank goodness :-)

1) Basic business bank account is a good idea, keeps things painfully simple. Then again, if she's being paid in £ and taking the full amount as earnings, not keeping any cash in the company for any reason, she can just take the payment into her personal account

2) Allow some hours, especially first time. You can make it easier by making sure you keep records accurately through the year

3) Send invoice and tie it to the payment received in the bank account. That's all she needs to do for her fees. HOWEVER anything more complicated, first check exactly what's required with the company and ask back here, spelling out the steps if needs be, for more thoughts.

That's my 2p, at least - there will be others with other thoughts along presently, I'm sure :-)

Wywth

Something wrote: »

Hi

I am about to ask a few silly questions, so please be kind.

My wife is soon to be helping an ongoing business (located outside the EU) as consultant, basically the company important items from the UK, and she does all the paperwork, phone calls etc, to make things go smoothly.
For transparency purposes (for tax etc) she obviously wants to have a seperate account from her normal bank account.

1. She will be using this account purely for receiving her earnings from the company (outside the EU), she will NOT be making any company payments, or doing anything with the account, apart from transferring money to her normal bank account (to live on), and obviously for paying her tax (as a sole trader)...my question...does she even need a business bank account, or will it be more simple to open another debit account and do it through there?

2. She is about to apply online as a sole trader, they will send her her unique account number, I believe she can do her tax returns online, is this simple, will she just put in the numbers (dates and earnings) and will it be calculated for her?, how long does it take to submit one return (10 minutes, 3 hours)?

3. For each payment, she will have to send an invoice,will the company paying her have to send back receipt of this payment, or will the invoice suffice for the records (obviously she will have documents of the sale going through also)?

Thanks again.

1. You say she is registering as self employed, will be working as a consultant and will be issuing invoices for the work she carries out. Does that sound like a buiness to you?
Most personal bank accounts prohibit their use for business - if the bank discocver she is using it for business, they wil probably convert it to a business account anyway, so be honeest from the satrt and shop around for the best business account that will suit her needs.

2. No she only has one HMRC id, which will include her self employment. She can certainly do her tax return online, and some of the the advantages of doing this are (a) a longer period to submit and (b) an instant calculation of what she owes/is owed
It takes seconds to submit ... but how long it takes to fill in the return itself will depend on the complexity of her tax affairs ... and her knowing what goes in each box. She should consider using an accountant if unsure. The accountant will probably more than pay for themselves ... and the accountants fee will be tax deductable too.

3. That could just pay the invoice, but often a remittance advice is provided. She should check their policy on this.