Join in if you are self-employed and work from home

Thanks guys you have all been a brilliant help x

To those asking the question about tax and NI.....

NI goes out monthly at £11.00 per month, however you are ALSO charged NI on your PROFITS at 8%.

You will also be taxed at 20% on any profits over the basic rate band of £6035 (currently) and if any of you are lucky enough to earn over £34,800 you will be charged higher rate tax. What most people forget is that they also have to make payments on account for the next years tax in advance in two lump sums.... so you must be careful when you work out what tax they might have to pay in Jan 2010.

What is important to point out also is that accountants are worth the money you pay them, they can very often save you money where you wouldn't have thought. The reason the tax man wants you to do your own tax is so you end up paying more tax.

As a sole trader you don't have to have 5th April as your tax year end and the year end that you choose can delay the tax you pay over, or at least give you more warning of how much you need to pay.

Also the tidier and neater your books and records are the better prepared you will be. Don't leave your tax return until the very last moment...

Thats a real help thank you.

I'm trying to get everything sorted so I can hit the ground running to be honest.

Currently in the process of tidying the spare bedroom and making it into an office.

Luckily with my PAYE day job i only have to work a few ours a day, get my deals on and go home. Its getting leads for cavity wall and loft insulation, have to get 25 a day, which is really easy, and can do it in about 4 hours max.

So when I get home at about 3 ish i can start work on my S/E company, also commiting myself to working saturdays too.

I am very excited, but a little bit scared too.

Great to find this thread - thank you all for the ideas, info and comments. I wonder if you have room for a not-self-employed-yet-but-on-the-way person?

To introduce myself, I am currently a manager in the civil service, and am going through the redundancy process, having been ill for the past year. With plenty of time on my hands for a change, I have been thinking about what I would like to do next, and have decided that I am up for running a B&B. I need to sell my house (hmmm :rolleyes: ), as although it is big enough, it's not what I wanted long term, as we'd like to be in the country. Looking at the price of equivalent houses in the areas we like (and which are suitable for B&B) and the agent's current valuation on ours, I think this will work out ok.

None of this is going to happen overnight, so in the meantime, I am focused on getting the business plan together, looking at fixed term contract work once I am well (pleased to hear there are still some public sector contracts out there...), and trying to work out what flexible work I can do alongside the B&B in due course. Plus I am making the best of business link and their training, together with the tourism advisers.

It's good to hear that so many of you have a variety of different work on the go; I think that this is the real attraction of self-employment for me. I am also hearing that for many of you it is important to do something that gives you contact with other people. Hopefully my B&B guests would do that, but I need to keep that in mind.

I grew up with a self-employed stepfather, and my OH has been self-employed pretty much all his working life, so in many ways I am wondering why it has taken me so long to get around to setting up by myself. Looking forward to hearing more, and contributing what I can to this thread.

Hollyberry - sounds like you've done a lot of planning and the more of that you do now then the smoothier it will all go in the end. Do you have a time scale as to when you'd like to be set up?

Cheekymonkey - a lot of my work is with people so I'm quite motivated during school hours and every other Saturday (I try to work mostly when the children are at school). I'm not so motivated at doing the little things though for the last tax year I did get my taxes in during April when it's usually last minute...that felt so good! I'm hoping posting a task a day on here will make me more motivated.

Sammy - thanks for the guide for NI and saving for tax. Up until now i've been under the tax limit due to lots of courses but this year i'm not doing any so I need to think about tax. I already pay the voluntary income tax but that will change as well this year.

Yeah! I've just had a new client ring up ... she's only booked a short treatment but it all adds up and hopefully she'll rebook. I've now got somewhere I can come and get excited when I get new work.

My job for tomorrow is to get my paperwork in order to start my accounts on Monday. I want to get them as up to date as possible by Friday so when 5th April comes they can all go straight to the accountant. I so love paperwork...not!!