I have (or did before it all went wrong..) an income every month, some petrol and tool expenses and that's about it.
How many income/outgoing expenses will you have do you think?
Want to go self employed as an HGV and PSV driver.
Main reason is using more than one agency and claiming back for the horrendous CPC.
Anyone help me with which way to go regarding self assessment or a accounted??
For me with little in the way of accounts to do (sub contractor), self assesment online is super easy and takes 20 mins! I used to pay an accountant
£400 a year for that
I have (or did before it all went wrong..) an income every month, some petrol and tool expenses and that's about it.
How many income/outgoing expenses will you have do you think?
Electronic self assessment is dead easy. You don't need an accountant for the relatively simple expenses you'll have.
quote:
Originally posted by coozer
Want to go self employed as an HGV and PSV driver.
Main reason is using more than one agency and claiming back for the horrendous CPC.
Anyone help me with which way to go regarding self assessment or a accounted??
Then essentially, you don't have to worry about preparing the return each year. 
quote:
Originally posted by flibble
For me with little in the way of accounts to do (sub contractor), self assesment online is super easy and takes 20 mins! I used to pay an accountant £400 a year for that
I have (or did before it all went wrong..) an income every month, some petrol and tool expenses and that's about it.
How many income/outgoing expenses will you have do you think?
I would second the fact that any decent accountant should save you more than he costs you by some margin.
Best example I can give (bear in mind figures are 35 years out of date, but principle is the same) I went in to the accountants with what I thought
was a £400 profit for 3 months trading which I thought I would have to pay tax on as all my alllowances were already used up in a PAYE job. When I
came out of the accountants, I had a bill from him for £200 (which I actually think looking back was expensive for that time), but far more
importantly a £3000 LOSS to carry forward to the next tax year!!
Much better to keep the money in your pocket than the tax mans - & I would add none of the above was at all dodgy, it was all legit & above
board, just a Q of knowing what can legitimately be claimed
Correct and full self assessment isn't easy. For example, you can claim for mileage and the usual expenses, but also for clothing, tools, food, heating (depending if you work from home) and a whole host of other things that a good accountant will know about. You can even claim relief on the cost of vehicles and a business property.
Thanks, I'm wondering if an accountant would be able to help with expenses etc.
I've been told whatever hourly rate I get, say £10 then I pay myself £6.10 and the rest is a diffident. Is that right? How do I do it myself if I
dont use a broker?
I'm only working part time and reckon on about £18,000 a year. Just want to be able to use more than one agency without paying RB tax (P46) and
want to be able to claim back the cost of doing the CPC.
Think you mean dividend.
Pay yourself minimum wage up to your allowance and the rest in dividends.
This way you only pay 10% tax on your dividends and nothing on your minimum salary, also you will only need to pay Class 2 NI which is a few pounds a
week.
Dividends have to be paid out on profitts.
Think sole traders setting themselves up this way are being watched by the treasury because its a bit of a cheat as you are not really a Director of a
company but that is also debatable.
I do the above but I am a director of a company not a sole trader.
I would reccomed an accountant every time as thay can work out the most tax efficient way to pay your self within the rules.
quote:
Originally posted by big-vee-twin
Think you mean dividend.
Pay yourself minimum wage up to your allowance and the rest in dividends.
This way you only pay 10% tax on your dividends and nothing on your minimum salary, also you will only need to pay Class 2 NI which is a few pounds a week.
Dividends have to be paid out on profitts.
Think sole traders setting themselves up this way are being watched by the treasury because its a bit of a cheat as you are not really a Director of a company but that is also debatable.
I do the above but I am a director of a company not a sole trader.
I would reccomed an accountant every time as thay can work out the most tax efficient way to pay your self within the rules.
Best advice if your going self employed is to emigrate to a country were its not treat like a crime
my old man has done very well out of being self employed. it does leave you very flexible and certain expenses end up as business ones when your
enjoying them as personal ones. admittedly he has a very good and creative accountant his dad put him in on to when he first started. There is also
something called entrepreneurial relief for small business which might be worth looking into not sure if that is sole trader or Ltd though.
Ed.
chris has the figures about right. I think big v twin is refering to paying youself a salary of £7.5k which doesnt attract income tax.
The benefit is broadly that you pay 20 odd % corp tax rather than the 28% (income tax and NI) that people on a normal wage would pay. If you're
into 40% tax band then it would seem to be a no brainer to me.
TBH if you have doubts about doing SA returns, you have no chance of managing LTD returns, at least without some guidance.