Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: tunnie on 17 August 2009, 14:45:06
-
Who here is self employed? I have the possibilty of a contract role on a very reasonable daily rate, but its a contract position with 3 months rolling. I have no depedancies, so its worth taking a punt.
I am currently in a permant position, but its a bit flat at the moment, and progression looks uncertain. Plus i have learnt all I can, and be good to expand my skills.
Looking online it seems i need to log everything, as its my business. But that should allow me to claim for things. The commute would involve driving a fair bit, does anyone know how much i can claim for things like fuel? Is it Vat only? :-/
I guess i could register a company to myself and use that as my 'business'?
Not sure how all this self employed stuff works ;D
-
My advise Tunnie is to aquire the services of a good accountant as others advised me to do years ago.
For six months I went down the self employed route and due to my accontant claiming for all kind of tax deductables, including motoring costs, I ended up paying her £225 and receiving a tax rebate cheque from the IR for £635!! :D :D :D :D ;) ;)
A real result!! 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
-
My advise Tunnie is to aquire the services of a good accountant as others advised me to do years ago.
For six months I went down the self employed route and due to my accontant claiming for all kind of tax deductables, including motoring costs, I ended up paying her £225 and receiving a tax rebate check from the IR for £635!! :D :D :D :D ;) ;)
A real result!! 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
Blimey! Sounds good 8-)
-
My advise Tunnie is to aquire the services of a good accountant as others advised me to do years ago.
For six months I went down the self employed route and due to my accontant claiming for all kind of tax deductables, including motoring costs, I ended up paying her £225 and receiving a tax rebate cheque from the IR for £635!! :D :D :D :D ;) ;)
A real result!! 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
Yes. My brother is a self employed painter+decorator. He earns half of what the wife does but seems to bring more home :o
-
My advise Tunnie is to aquire the services of a good accountant as others advised me to do years ago.
For six months I went down the self employed route and due to my accontant claiming for all kind of tax deductables, including motoring costs, I ended up paying her £225 and receiving a tax rebate cheque from the IR for £635!! :D :D :D :D ;) ;)
A real result!! 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
Yes. My brother is a self employed painter+decorator. He earns half of what the wife does but seems to bring more home :o
Must be all the stuff you can claim for, which is sounding all the better for me!
-
My advise Tunnie is to aquire the services of a good accountant as others advised me to do years ago.
For six months I went down the self employed route and due to my accontant claiming for all kind of tax deductables, including motoring costs, I ended up paying her £225 and receiving a tax rebate cheque from the IR for £635!! :D :D :D :D ;) ;)
A real result!! 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)
Yes. My brother is a self employed painter+decorator. He earns half of what the wife does but seems to bring more home :o
Must be all the stuff you can claim for, which is sounding all the better for me!
All the earnings you dont declare more like ::) ;D
-
Start here and see if it puts you off.
You should also be able to gain an assesment appointment with an accountant for upto 30 mins for free advice.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/selfemployed/
-
Start here and see if it puts you off.
You should also be able to gain an assesment appointment with an accountant for upto 30 mins for free advice.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/selfemployed/
All that can be done by your accountant so you can just get on and do your job earning money :D :D ;) ;)
-
Start here and see if it puts you off.
You should also be able to gain an assesment appointment with an accountant for upto 30 mins for free advice.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/selfemployed/
All that can be done by your accountant so you can just get on and do your job earning money :D :D ;) ;)
I might farm the accounting aspects off onto mother tunnie ;D
-
Who here is self employed? I have the possibilty of a contract role on a very reasonable daily rate, but its a contract position with 3 months rolling. I have no depedancies, so its worth taking a punt.
I am currently in a permant position, but its a bit flat at the moment, and progression looks uncertain. Plus i have learnt all I can, and be good to expand my skills.
Looking online it seems i need to log everything, as its my business. But that should allow me to claim for things. The commute would involve driving a fair bit, does anyone know how much i can claim for things like fuel? Is it Vat only? :-/
I guess i could register a company to myself and use that as my 'business'?
Not sure how all this self employed stuff works ;D
Cant claim VAT back unless you are VAT registered. Maybe be worth corsidering being VAT registered though in some case has it's benifits. (seek advice 1st though)
-
Start here and see if it puts you off.
You should also be able to gain an assesment appointment with an accountant for upto 30 mins for free advice.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/selfemployed/
All that can be done by your accountant so you can just get on and do your job earning money :D :D ;) ;)
I might farm the accounting aspects off onto mother tunnie ;D
If she is an experienced qualified accountant why not; save even more money on the fees!! :D :D :D :y :y
-
I've been self employed for over 12 years, it's true you can offset many expenses against income.
If you're only doing it short term, not sure how helpful my info is, but here goes:
The 'bonus' of offsetting has its downsides, one being that with a low net income, it's hard to borrow money. My first mortgage offer was only 36k! The other downsides are having no pension, no additional national insurance payments, no holiday pay, no sick pay/health cover etc etc.
There are some upsides though, like more freedom, and you have to have the mindset of taking holiday as necessary 8-)
I don't claim any VAT as I'm not registered, and I think you have to be earning more than 57k to do that.. there are a whole can of worms in that area too. :-?
My advice would also be get an accountant and put aside a good percentage, like 25%, of earnings for tax and NI (which you only pay twice a year). This should be more than enough and a small nest egg will grow from it. It should cover fees and will grow more if you get refunds. Because you pay tax based on the previous years net earnings, this can happen quite often. I overpaid over a couple of years as my expenses grew but not my income, and I got a £4k refund :y
Also, if you can, put some savings away for income protection and long term. This way, you've got dosh saved for unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances.
Keep records of everything you spend, and on what, and the accountant will help you work out which category they count toward! On vehicle expenses I add all of servicing, tax, insurance and RAC costs - as I need my car for work. Then claim a percentage of fuel expenses as not all miles are for work.
I haven't got to grips with the recent trend toward online self assessment, but I gather it's easier, less time consuming and hence needs less accountants time (and cost!)
hope that's vaguely useful....
PS the cost of an accountant depends on how much paperwork you want to do yourself. I like to do a lot so don't pay him much. But as such he fills the forms in, does the chatting to the tax man, and knows which figures relating to assets, capital gains, ......to use! :o He's good at kicking my arse to get returns in on time too. ;D
-
Excellent, thanks for that :y
I don't see myself working self employeed for the rest of my life, just for a few years to really get my house deposit fund nice and healthy.
Regarding Vat, i should be able to claim on this, as my dailey rate takes me over that amount you mentioned :o
But as you say i will speak to an accountant about that, i too would need my car for work as it gets me there. So any money i could claim back on that would be brilliant.
How often can you claim for such things, is it twice a year, or just once?
-
Excellent, thanks for that :y
I don't see myself working self employeed for the rest of my life, just for a few years to really get my house deposit fund nice and healthy.
Regarding Vat, i should be able to claim on this, as my dailey rate takes me over that amount you mentioned :o
But as you say i will speak to an accountant about that, i too would need my car for work as it gets me there. So any money i could claim back on that would be brilliant.
How often can you claim for such things, is it twice a year, or just once?
Once a year you send in how much you've earned, how much you've spent which is deductable and the nice taxman will send you a bill for your income tax, stating that if you don't pay it buy such a date he will pull your pants down :(
-
Excellent, thanks for that :y
I don't see myself working self employeed for the rest of my life, just for a few years to really get my house deposit fund nice and healthy.
Regarding Vat, i should be able to claim on this, as my dailey rate takes me over that amount you mentioned :o
But as you say i will speak to an accountant about that, i too would need my car for work as it gets me there. So any money i could claim back on that would be brilliant.
How often can you claim for such things, is it twice a year, or just once?
Once a year you send in how much you've earned, how much you've spent which is deductable and the nice taxman will send you a bill for your income tax, stating that if you don't pay it buy such a date he will pull your pants down :(
Ahh so all your expenses reduce your net (taxable) income?
I am PAYE at the moment, so will it be a year from the date that ends the Tax man will come looking for me?
-
Excellent, thanks for that :y
I don't see myself working self employeed for the rest of my life, just for a few years to really get my house deposit fund nice and healthy.
Regarding Vat, i should be able to claim on this, as my dailey rate takes me over that amount you mentioned :o
But as you say i will speak to an accountant about that, i too would need my car for work as it gets me there. So any money i could claim back on that would be brilliant.
How often can you claim for such things, is it twice a year, or just once?
Once a year you send in how much you've earned, how much you've spent which is deductable and the nice taxman will send you a bill for your income tax, stating that if you don't pay it buy such a date he will pull your pants down :(
Ahh so all your expenses reduce your net (taxable) income?
I am PAYE at the moment, so will it be a year from the date that ends the Tax man will come looking for me?
Not all of them, just the ones you can claim for. You can claim for a % of the home telephone, heating, electric ect if you have an office at home. You can also claim IIRC 40 pence per mile for the first 10,000 miles and then 25 pence per mile after that. There's loads more but I have (had) an accountant because they know what you can and can't claim for :y
-
Sounds good to me 8-)
-
Excellent, thanks for that :y
I don't see myself working self employeed for the rest of my life, just for a few years to really get my house deposit fund nice and healthy.
Regarding Vat, i should be able to claim on this, as my dailey rate takes me over that amount you mentioned :o
But as you say i will speak to an accountant about that, i too would need my car for work as it gets me there. So any money i could claim back on that would be brilliant.
How often can you claim for such things, is it twice a year, or just once?
Once a year you send in how much you've earned, how much you've spent which is deductable and the nice taxman will send you a bill for your income tax, stating that if you don't pay it buy such a date he will pull your pants down :(
Ahh so all your expenses reduce your net (taxable) income?
I am PAYE at the moment, so will it be a year from the date that ends the Tax man will come looking for me?
Gross income is what's taxed. Net is the income you have left afterwards. But yes, expenses reduce your taxable income and then you're sent the bill.
You can choose when your financial year runs from and until, (eg Jan-Dec or Apr - Mar) but the Revenue runs Apr-Mar. They send the self assessment forms (tax returns) out in May, want em back by end of Sep, and then they calculate the amount of tax you pay them split in half to be paid the following Jan and July! If you don't get your return in by the end of Jan you get penalised. I had that twice, no pant pulling but £100 >:(
If you are running late with your return then the accountant is more important as they'll tell you how much tax to pay before the revenue do. As Pete says, there's a whole minefield of allowable expenses, and accountants generally know what's applicable!
Havent heard the 40p a mile thing before tho :-/
The reason it's important to put dosh away every pay day (kinda like PAYE but going to your savings :y :y) is because it can be over 12 months from when you earn it to when you pay tax on it!! :o
-
ive been self employed since 1988, will not go on the cards unless i have to. i love the massive tax rebate every year when i do my self asesment online. accountants were charging me 350 a time for something that takes no more than 15 mins to do myself. :y :y :y
-
ive been self employed since 1988, will not go on the cards unless i have to. i love the massive tax rebate every year when i do my self asesment online. accountants were charging me 350 a time for something that takes no more than 15 mins to do myself. :y :y :y
what's 'on the cards' ??
You only get a rebate if you've been paying too much. I much prefer to pay the correct amount in the first place!
I tend to pay £150-£200 to my accountant, and in mine and my father's experience, the services he offers are more than form filling. The revenue are less likely to investigate forms from your representative, and he's also a lot better at dealing with their queries. Worth every penny. Even when I wonder if I could do it all myself, he comes up with knowledge from 30 years in the accountancy world!
-
ive been self employed since 1988, will not go on the cards unless i have to. i love the massive tax rebate every year when i do my self asesment online. accountants were charging me 350 a time for something that takes no more than 15 mins to do myself. :y :y :y
what's 'on the cards' ??
You only get a rebate if you've been paying too much. I much prefer to pay the correct amount in the first place!
I tend to pay £150-£200 to my accountant, and in mine and my father's experience, the services he offers are more than form filling. The revenue are less likely to investigate forms from your representative, and he's also a lot better at dealing with their queries. Worth every penny. Even when I wonder if I could do it all myself, he comes up with knowledge from 30 years in the accountancy world!
20% tax stopped each week, deducted against my gross and expenses at the end of the year. hey presto. nice little rebate ;)
-
ive been self employed since 1988, will not go on the cards unless i have to. i love the massive tax rebate every year when i do my self asesment online. accountants were charging me 350 a time for something that takes no more than 15 mins to do myself. :y :y :y
what's 'on the cards' ??
You only get a rebate if you've been paying too much. I much prefer to pay the correct amount in the first place!
I tend to pay £150-£200 to my accountant, and in mine and my father's experience, the services he offers are more than form filling. The revenue are less likely to investigate forms from your representative, and he's also a lot better at dealing with their queries. Worth every penny. Even when I wonder if I could do it all myself, he comes up with knowledge from 30 years in the accountancy world!
I agree, I paid £250 but worth every penny :y
-
mine was never under 300 quid in all the years i had one, then my sister showed me how to do it online and it saves me a bit now, mine is very simple to do and i do a few mates as well and get a drink from them when they get there rebate :)
-
mine was never under 300 quid in all the years i had one, then my sister showed me how to do it online and it saves me a bit now, mine is very simple to do and i do a few mates as well and get a drink from them when they get there rebate :)
fair play mate. if you've only got simple accounts to do then the [smiley=beer.gif]s will be flowing!
I started with income from four sources, including one as an employee, so it's never been simple for me!
-
hang on, Blonde moment here.... if the tax is payable just twice a year, that means my monthly pay packs are untaxed? :-/
-
Ahh so all your expenses reduce your net (taxable) income?
All depends on what the expenses are.
It's quite easy to rip the backside out of it (eg, some unscrupulous people will claim £45 for a pair of Levi's...when they have actually paid £3.99 from ASDA for their work jeans)....but don't think you won't get caught if you really take the piss.
I am PAYE at the moment, so will it be a year from the date that ends the Tax man will come looking for me?
Tax year begins on April 1st regardless of when you started trading for yourself.
-
Ahh so all your expenses reduce your net (taxable) income?
All depends on what the expenses are.
It's quite easy to rip the backside out of it (eg, some unscrupulous people will claim £45 for a pair of Levi's...when they have actually paid £3.99 from ASDA for their work jeans)....but don't think you won't get caught if you really take the piss.
I am PAYE at the moment, so will it be a year from the date that ends the Tax man will come looking for me?
Tax year begins on April 1st regardless of when you started trading for yourself.
You still have to produce a receipt if the taxman asks to see one and I was always told I couldn't claim for clothing if its something you could wear for your personal use (ie overalls only)
-
Ahh so all your expenses reduce your net (taxable) income?
All depends on what the expenses are.
It's quite easy to rip the backside out of it (eg, some unscrupulous people will claim £45 for a pair of Levi's...when they have actually paid £3.99 from ASDA for their work jeans)....but don't think you won't get caught if you really take the piss.
Agreed. keep it straight and there'll be no probs.
I am PAYE at the moment, so will it be a year from the date that ends the Tax man will come looking for me?
Tax year begins on April 1st regardless of when you started trading for yourself.
Indeed, I started trading in July, and ran my first year until April, then started a complete one.
However, my father runs his financial year Jan to Dec, partly because most of his trading is in December and then he can do the books in Jan, and partly because this way his financial year splits across two tax years. It helps with asset management and other financial planning apparently. He can choose when to major purchases to maximise their effect on income. :-/
Oh, and Mitchells & Butlers run their financial year Sep-Aug, probably for similar reasons!
hang on, Blonde moment here.... if the tax is payable just twice a year, that means my monthly pay packs are untaxed? :-/
Exactly :y. Probably. My cash comes to me every week and I have to self-tax.
It does depend on your situation tho, there's no one solution for everybody.
My brother is self employed through an IT agency so I think they take it off for him. Don't quote that tho as I may be wrong :-/ At one point he had to have a company where he was the sole employee - go figure!
PS KW, I modified your quote link as it went to my post on computers ;D
-
Thanks :y
I'll have to find out how i would be paid.
-
Ahh so all your expenses reduce your net (taxable) income?
All depends on what the expenses are.
It's quite easy to rip the backside out of it (eg, some unscrupulous people will claim £45 for a pair of Levi's...when they have actually paid £3.99 from ASDA for their work jeans)....but don't think you won't get caught if you really take the piss.
I am PAYE at the moment, so will it be a year from the date that ends the Tax man will come looking for me?
Tax year begins on April 1st regardless of when you started trading for yourself.
You still have to produce a receipt if the taxman asks to see one and I was always told I couldn't claim for clothing if its something you could wear for your personal use (ie overalls only)
A receipt is a piece of pi$$ to produce, and getting over the small problem of why you had to buy Levi's instead of "George by ASDA" is also very easy.
-
Another option which is less hassle is to use an umbrella company, when I was a contractor I used this lot http://www.giantgroup.com/Strongbox.aspx you're then effectively employed by them. You obviously won't take home as much money but they take care of everything including your tax claims.