How do people do things at work?

applepicker

Been looking into different options.?


Running your business- how do most people record their outgoings and ingoings? use excel?


Is it better to use a new bank account and use only that for business use and money paid in and not mix up with other bank accounts?

dktreesea

applepicker wrote: »

Been looking into different options. If you do tax credits do you need to register with hmrc? If so, how do you do this?


Running your business- how do you record your outgoings and ingoings? use excel?


Is it better to use a new bank account and use only that for business use and money paid in and not mix up with other bank accounts?

Yes, you need to contact HMRC and register as self employed. This is where to do it:
https://www.gov.uk/set-up-sole-trader


Excel is fine for recording your revenue and expenses. Make sure you keep all receipts. It's also, I find, a good idea to not pay for things with cash if it doesn't cost any extra to use a card. Less messy when it comes to doing the accounting/keeping records.


Yes, a separate bank account is a good idea. Ours doesn't charge us a transaction fee for electronically booked revenue and expenses - we tend not to use cash or sell anything for cash. there's usually a monthly fee though. Shouldn't be more than £5 to £10. Avoid banks that are not doing very well. We were originally with RBS but they charged us an arm and a leg.

NYM

applepicker wrote: »

So basically if you are starting out right now you need to contact HMRC and register as a sole trader NOW and apply for tax credits at the same time?


Then that's it until January 2018 when I do a self-assessment or tax return form?


In between, just write down all the money I get paid and the money I spend on work related items? Keep receipts..


I don't want to mess this up as I heard they come after you if you make mistakes.

Not quite...

Read this link - New rules for Self employed claiming WTC
and this one - How Tax Credits work for Self Employed