tax return/self employed help!!!

[wull]

i'm looking for some info and help from peeps who are self employed or have experience with being self employed.

i left my job back in june/july(can't even remember) and was struggling to find another job but for the sake of tax credits and child tax credits i went self employed and have been working between 2 places.i knew i was guaranteed work at balfron golf course as of april this year so it was a case of surviving until then.

now i went self eployed on the 12th of september 2011 and will stay self employed until i start work at balfron so my question is

will i receive a self assesment tax return thingy before april that i will fill out after the start of april?

on the form i will fill in the amount i earned from my work that i left and then the amount i earned from being self employed?

will i receive a tax rebate?

i paid over £600 tax from my earnings at my last job from april to june/july 2011 and since going self employed my earnings have been very little.i estimate my earnings to be less than 10k for the tax year 2011/2012

thanks for any help guys

 

[freddielong]

As far as I am aware you will put down everything you earned where you earned it and what periodand the tax dudes will look at the year as a whole and decide what you earned against what allowances were due and come up with a number that you owe or they owe

 

[timchump]

yeh the tax year you are self employed for doesn't end until 5th april 2012,
you should receive a paper tax return form in the post from the HMRC sometime after this, probably within a month, this needs to be filed by 31st october (posted), if you file your return online you have until 31st january 2013.

If you earned £10k ish as self employed you will not get a rebate, you'll probably have to pay a fair amount, unless you can come up will a lot of business expenses to offset your income, eg mileage allowance etc

 

[rosecott]

And don't forget to claim for everything you bought for work - outdoor clothing, safety boots, chainsaws etc. etc.

 

[wull]

yeh the tax year you are self employed for doesn't end until 5th april 2012,
you should receive a paper tax return form in the post from the HMRC sometime after this, probably within a month, this needs to be filed by 31st october (posted), if you file your return online you have until 31st january 2013.

If you earned £10k ish as self employed you will not get a rebate, you'll probably have to pay a fair amount, unless you can come up will a lot of business expenses to offset your income, eg mileage allowance etc

it won't be 10k earned as self employed but for the whole tax year.

i earned roughly 6k + at my job in callander from april to june or whatever the period was.then from september until april i estimate a further 3k on top of this so my earning for the whole tax year will be roughly 9.5k!!!

chances are it will be less.from september to the end of december i had earned under 1.5k!!!

for the period at callander i paid over £600 in tax so already this tax year i have paid £600 in tax.

my tax code is 7 something so am i right in thinking i can earn 7k(roughly) before paying tax.

so if my total earnings for the tax year is say 9.k does that mean i only have to pay tax on the 2.5k above the 7k?

if this is the case £600+ seems a little steep for only 2.5k so i'm thinking that surely i will receive some of that back.

 

[timchump]

Oh right, well, £10.5k of total income in the year roughly equates to £600 worth of tax to pay, so you would get a small refund, for an income of £10k the refund would be around £100, £9.5k = £200.

£7.5k is when you have to start paying tax at 20%

Then there is national insurance...

 

[wull]

Oh right, well, £10.5k of total income in the year roughly equates to £600 worth of tax to pay, so you would get a small refund, for an income of £10k the refund would be around £100, £9.5k = £200.

£7.5k is when you have to start paying tax at 20%

Then there is national insurance...

thanks...

i paid national insurance whilst i was at my old job but since being self employed i haven't.i keep meaning to phone up and pay it and to be up to date with it but i keep forgetting.it's £2.50 i believe so it won't be too much but obviously the longer i leave it the more it will be.i suppose i could leave it until the end of the tax year and pay it all off at the one time.

 

[anotherdouble]

You need to register with the tax office that you are self employed as a matter of urgency if you want to keep yourself lejitt. I thought it had to be in the first 3 months but you can plead ignorance. With regards tax returns there are 2 ways. The accountant route who you pay to fill out forms or the self assessment route which is done on line before 31st jan following the end on the financial year. If you decide to go the online route you must register on line that you wish to go that way and you are sent a registration code to use. This code is much like a nhs number. It relates to you. This code can take a few weeks to arrive so do not wait until next jan to set it all up coz you could be to late and suffer a £100 fine for a late return.

 

[timchump]

as he says you need to register as self employed, i just assumed you had,
if you haven't do it ASAP, look on the HMRC website on how to

 

[wull]

i am registered as self employed.i received my number thingy or whatever you call it aswell.

i haven't set up the direct debit for paying my ni.

 

[timchump]

ah that's alright then, just sit back and relax,
they might send you notice for payment of n.i. sometime in the future but it wont be for much

 

[beggsy]

Stopped paying tax an N.I about 2 year ago only time I will pay it again is if my employer pays it

 

[Warbur]

I've been self employed for 5 years now and the biggest piece of advice I can give is to get yourself a good accountant.

Someone who knows what they are doing, in tax matters, is worth their weight in gold and the fee will be more than covered by the tax saving advice they will provide. There are quite a few accountants that will only charge a minimal fee but in my experience all they will do is prepare the self assessment on the receipts you give and won't provide any advice on how you can reduce your tax bill. My accountants fee tends to be circa £500 (ex VAT) but this also covers them running the payroll for me as well (if your other half doesn't work then employ her to take advantage of her allowance ). The accountants fee is also a business cost so you can set this off against your tax/NI as well.

There are quite a few other areas that you can save (such as the way you run your car - leasing is much more tax efficient than owning) that the accountant can advise you on.

What do you do for a living? If you're dealing with companies only it may be worth you going VAT registered as well. Companies don't care as they get the VAT back but you will benefit from the VAT that you reclaim.

One other thing I'd say is that you do need to pay a degree of tax. This may sound obvious but I know various people that minimise their tax bill, in my opinion, too much so I think they're leaving themselves open to a tax inspection and then you end up looking at interest payments (possibly fines) etc. Keep you tax bill at a sensible level and you shouldn't ever fall foul of this. Also make sure you put a % of your earnings into a seperate account to cover your tax bill. Payments have to be made in January and July and you have to make sure that you've put the money aside. I put 25% of the gross aside and this covers the tax/NI plus gives me a nice little "bonus" each year when the return is done.

Hope this helps.