How to receive payment as self-employed Tutor?

simongregson

I have tutored, used a starling account and also had a sum up card reader.  Most regular tutees would pay by bank transfer to the free business account, had a few who would pay by card. Very easy to get a free business account these days and it will make doing your tax return much easier to have all business income and expenses in one place.

Agree with the comment about allowing the customer to pay how they prefer however I didn't take cash, a lot of people will assume you want cash to avoid tax but if you are doing things legitimately it is quite a hassle as starling do charge for paying that in (I think pretty much the only thing they charge for) and spending it means not having the simple way to do your accounting. Card fees are about 1.7% but in tutoring you will probably find most of your customers are regulars for months and will prefer to set up a bank transfer, I messaged them the bank details before the first lesson.

martindow

If you are sole trader, cash payment obviously need to be accounted for in the books, but there is no need for it to be paid into a bank account if this involves fees being charged. The number of people paying this way is likely to be small as most seem to want to pay by card or transfer so you won't be overwhelmed with piles of cash!

J_B

The 'man in the pub' told me that he knows many people who use a personal account for their business. They know it's strictly not allowed but none of them have been caught.

We have a Ltd Co and started with a free Nat West business account but once they started charging, we moved to Starling, which works fine.

Herbyme

I use the free Monzo business account. Super easy to send clients a link to pay. No fee. Can’t recommend them enough

Mistral001

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81855595#Comment_81855595

It is sad that these days many people think that accepting cash means that you are on the fiddle. I ran a business for thirty years and always noted the cash I received in my books and accounted for it in my tax returns. Some people might not have done this, I admit, but then some people go into a shop and do some shoplifting. Both are criminal offences.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81878777#Comment_81878777

These days?

Its not a modern phenomenon, one of the may reasons for asking for a "discount for cash" was because the assumption that it wouldnt all be fully declared etc. The old boy in our local talks of preferring cash 50 years ago and always declaring a modest profit, a tiny fraction of the real profit.

Mistral001

Yes "these days". Back in the day, tutors, music teachers etc. were often paid in cash. There was no assumption that these people were on the fiddle then, but yet today if they accept cash there seems to be such an assumption.

marcia_

I just paid my gas engineer who attempted to fix my boiler in cash. Reason being he showed me his app where he receives payments showing he will be charged £60 for me paying by card,

martindow

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81879445#Comment_81879445

Crikey, how much was the bill? It must have been thousands …

Mistral001

It is quite possible that a plumber would send out bills in the thousands. Many plumbers will work for several weeks on jobs such as new-build housing or commercial property new-builds, where the bills will be in the thousands. The £60 charge by the Card company will be typical for say a £5000 bill paid by card, which is not unusual for time and materials for those types of jobs.