UK Help - How to go about working self employed

Hi,

Im about to start as a self employed freelance web designer, going give it a test for a few months and see how things go.

basically im not sure where it start with tax and stuff like that, how do i get tax'd when money going from client - paypal - my bank.

Do i have to sign up to anything regarding taxing?

Do i have to record all payments i make etc,

Please help anyone living in the UK and who have started as a freelance webdesigner!

Thanks

 

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/individuals/index.shtml

Tons of stuff to read there to answer a lot of your questions.

 

Basically keep good records and don't comingle_ try and keep your paypal account just for business - they have a nice download feature so you can save your transactions in a spreadsheet. Make sure you know how to do a legal tax invoice: what tax noes etc you have to have on it.
Keep reciepts for any expensese including commuting to see clients, interent charges, computer consumables etc etc

 

Contact your local business link http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdot...gov.uk&target=http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/. They can offer help on tax etc... I am in the same boat at the moment! Good luck.

 

Give a try to www.freelanceuk.com

 

If you want to do it properly, then:

* set yourself up as a ltd company (easily done from online services for about 40 quid),
* open a business account against that company name,
* integrate the paypal account with the business account so that all transactions are monitored properly,
* keep a record of every invoice that comes in, your bank statements and issue an invoice on every job you do..
* pay a visit to your local accountant with all the records to prepare your company accounts

Its that simple

cheers

K

 

It sounds so simple, but how much capital we need to do that?

 

The only capital you need to set up a company in the UK is the cost of company registration. This on average is as little as £30 to £40, if you use an online company registration service. The process takes about 1-2 days. Once done, you are ready to open a bank account (free) and ready to trade.

cheers

k

 

How often do you use the services of an accountant? weekly / monthly / yearly?

 

You normally need to submit company accounts annually, which means paying an accountant every year. Charges for an accountant range from £300 to £500 - £700. It really depends on who you know i.e if you know a recently qualified accountant not charging much etc.

cheers

K