tallsteve

Hello all,

Just got a new job which requires me to set up my own "business" and invoice my new employers - And I've not got a clue how to go about it!

I've checked with the Job Centre (who were useless!) and the Inland Revenue site (which is confusing!) and am none the wiser..

What sort of things do I need to be aware of? (Nat Insurance contribs, travel expenses, accounts prep, these kind of things)

Any suggestions / ideas?

Many thanks!

Turbohot

I went down to to my local Inland Revenue office.Had to fill a form and had to get self employed Tax re.no.
Going there personally made a difference.Online gear was a bit confusing.

MJW

Try Business Link

jowl

I had to fill in a form (which can be downloaded from the Inland Revenue site) to say I was self-employed. Though I can't remember which form number - sorry!

My NI contributions are taken by direct debit every month.

My Advice is get a receipt for EVERYTHING and keep it.

tax is a pain....I put some money in a savings account every time I get paid ready for my Tax bill at the end of the year.

A good accountant will more than pay for himself!

David Lock

Consider becoming VAT registered.

MJW

You only need to register for VAT if you exceed £58k p.a. in turnover

Freak

Your situation sounds like mine. I had to set up as self employed when i stated djing, as technically im contracted (albeit short term)

Go to your inland revenue office
Takes about 5 mins
They will give you your schedule D number (keep this- you will need it)
they will also give you a huuuge book on self employment and the tax gubbins associated with it.

You can set up a direct debit for class 2 national insurance payments ($2 a week (pound symbol doesnt work ) or you can get sent an invoice for it every 12 weeks which is what i do.
Class 4 (extra) national insurance is calculated when you do your tax return.
financial year starts/ends on April 5th, so you wont have to have send in a tax return until start of january 2006

My advice: Keep reciepts for EVERYTHING- no matter how insignificant, and keep them in a safe place for ever ( a mate has just had a full audit going back 5 years sprung on him by the inland revenue!)
I have several shoe boxes a year for me- records, cds, clothes etc and i need a seperate box purely for petrol reciepts.
I even get a reciept for the drive thru i sometimes grab on the way to work.

You need to become VAT registered if your income will exceed 54000 (from memory) per year, and you then have the extra pleasure of a VAT calculation to do

In short- go to the office- its much easier

Tiggs

there is a newley self emp help line at the revenue....why the hell you would want to go see them i dont know???? maybe if your bored?

phone them up - tell them....end of story.

T

Tiggs

When should I register?
You should tell us as soon as you start working for yourself.

If you do not register within the first three months of self-employment, you may have to pay a penalty of £100.00. And if you do not register and are not paying tax, you will be breaking the law and could be liable to further penalties.

The easiest way to register is to phone the Helpline for Newly Self-Employed on 0845 915 4515.



from the IR site.....if you are going self employed you better get used to finding stuff like this on your own

chris's scooby

But you can register before that figure. More work to do with it but you can claim VAT back on the related items you buy for work.

jowl

Yep, and very handy it is too

Actually, I think I WILL use the scooby to take me to work after all

anc-sti

Get a good accountant one that knows the system, Mr Brown god love him has put the revenue on a misson to get everybody contracting to the same organisation on paye(more pennies for him). If they can find no good reason why the person is self employed they will force them to pay PAYE and that potentially could be back dated six years, not good!!

We are in the process of restructuring our business because of this.

tallsteve

Thanks for the constructive advice guys! I'll get on the case and sort things out (probably via phone as I've no idea where a local tax office is!).

Did laugh about the shoe box full of petrol receipts - kept my £20 Optimax one today... The joys of Scoob ownership!!!