Sole traders - Tax returns

She doesn't need an agent to do that surely, tell her to just ring the taxes helpline.
This is the answer. Done mine (builder)and our boys (taxi driver) for years.
The only thing an accountant can do is tell you ways to save cash which they never ever do as a sole trader.
 


I used to do my tax online until I got investigated. They went through everything and the investigator was a right dick, he checked every receipt and dismissed lots as illegible. Receipts fade badly after a couple of years and he was right many were unreadable but when it says BP Petroleum on the top it's obvious it's for fuel. He also refused work wear bought at Aldi/Lidl because they weren't a builders merchant and their work trousers could be used for general wear!!! Inks, paper etc for the computer were dismissed because "A builder doesn't use a computer at work" even though I do my tax online and print out all my invoices. I use a van and motorbike for work, the bike when I'm working in London or some other congested city. It saves loads on parking expenses and time travelled, he wrongly said I could only claim for one vehicle even though I was only claiming a percentage of each. In the end I owed them £3,000 for two tax years plus a fine and interest which was another £1,000.
 
Wife changed to sole trader during 18/19 tax year and needs to submit her figures...been to see one accountant and they’re wanting to charge £350+VAT for this, is this the going rate?

She’s not made an awful lot and will be well under the limit of paying tax in this first year so splashing out £350 seems a canny wedge.

Any accountants recommended that come in cheaper than what’s been quoted?
you dont need an account man! PM me - Did you receive more than 1k gross income?
 
Last edited:
Just looking at Quickbooks now, didn’t realise it was only £4 a month!

She’s already registered as sole trader. Cheers

Register for self assessment account to allow her to file her return online too.

Should be easy enough to do herself with help from the taxes helpline. Save you paying an accountant
If she's earned under£1000 she doesn't even need to do a return.

I'd avoid an accountant personally
Does if shes self employed?
 
After doing my self assessment last night and looking at her numbers I’m just going to do it for her, she seems like she’s got it all down in spreadsheets so will hopefully be a piece of piss.

I’ll be back on here blaming you lot if not! ;)

If they are simple its probably the best thing to do. Might be a bit more tricky in the second year when you need to consider your basis periods and any overlap, but the taxes help line should be able to help. I'm not even sure the online self submission considers it?(someone can correct me on that) But it is something to be aware of if you are doing them yourself.

Then again if the accounts are made up to 31 march or 5 April it wont matter.
 
Last edited:
Just a tip if you're filing online: Don't do the self calculate option, as if you calculate it wrong it'll sit on a worklist for a few months.
 
I do my own with a spreadsheet I made. It's got a tab for each month and a summary at the end (known as a balance sheet). I've got money coming in and out on one half of each page and mileage on the other half. They add themselves up as I go along, so at any time I can glance at the last page and see my gross and net profits. I just copy the final numbers over into my tax return when I need to do it.

I also keep a seperate spreadsheet where I jot down all the calls I've done in a day. You can pick any day and ask why did I do x miles that day, and I can check the other spreadsheet and say I went to ...... and did ......... I also use that to keep track of what I've been paid for as everything added in red text, then I change it to black when I've been paid.

You can claim 45p a mile for up to 10,000 miles, then it drops to 25p a mile. They must be purely business miles, hence keeping the second spreadsheet. If I went out for the day and did a route of several calls, I can claim the whole amount of mileage for the round trip. If I went and did some calls, then went and did some shopping and called in to see my Mam, I can only claim for the miles I did when I was actually working.

I put £10 a month through for use of the room in the house. That's to cover heating, lighting, electric etc. HMRC gave me that figure but I don't know how they arrive at it. Make sure the room is split for business and personal use. If my office was a sole business office and not used for personal reasons, there could be capital gains tax pay on just that room if I moved house as I'm selling my "business premises." I've got a large utility room, so I've got my desk along one wall and a bench with the washer and dryer under on the other wall, so it's clearly a mixed use room.

I put half my mobile bill through as I use that half for business and half for posting shite on here :lol:

If she's printing things, you can claim Xp per sheet but I can't remember what that value is as I hardly ever print anything now as I use PDF's etc., on my phone.

You can put anything she buys purely for the business through as an expense but get it on a separate receipt to make it easier. Eg: I pick up stationery items when I'm doing my grocery shopping, but I pay for them separately. I've got a folder that I drop paper receipts in.

I've never been audited but it's good practice to think if an auditor looked at this, would they understand it.

HMRC do various courses to help. They're free and really useful. Have a look on here:

If it's simple and you think you can manage it, you might as well do it yourself and save the accounts fee.
Great post, useful for me as i've just gone self employed as ST and was just going to do it all myself rather than accountant. Have generally been doing what you suggested. Cheers
 
Great post, useful for me as i've just gone self employed as ST and was just going to do it all myself rather than accountant. Have generally been doing what you suggested. Cheers

I am biased as an accountant but if you believe everything from an HMRC webinar then you will never claim all you could. But as I said I believe in what we do. Far more than just a tax return
 
I am biased as an accountant but if you believe everything from an HMRC webinar then you will never claim all you could. But as I said I believe in what we do. Far more than just a tax return
I can’t be arsed with the paperwork to be honest
I’m on the tools making a decent wedge & don’t mind paying the pros to do their bit
 
What do you mean ‘in advance’?

I assume he means payments on account.

Payments on account are due when you tax liability is over 1,000 pound and 80% or more cannot be collected at source. For example via paye.

They are payments due on 31 of January and 31 of July and are essentially the following years tax bill in advance.

They are based broadly on 50 percent of the previous years tax liability. Not including class 2 nic and student loans etc.

For example say you had a tax liability of 2000 pound on 31 January 2020. Would owe hmrc your 2000 plus a payment of 1000 also on 31 January, so 3000 in total. Plus a further 1000 on 31 july 2020.

However these payment on accout go towards your following years tax bill. So if your next years tax bill is say 2500. Your liability in jan would be 2500 less your two previous payments of 1000.
 
What do you mean ‘in advance’?

They guess how much they think you will earn in 19/20 and you pay half the tax due.

In January I'm paying the rest of my 18/19 tax, plus half of what they think I will need to pay in 19/20. You can apply to have it reduced if circumstances change. I've worked less this year due to sickness, so I may ask to reduce it in January depending on how much work I can pick up between now and Christmas.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
They guess how much they think you will earn in 19/20 and you pay half the tax due.

In January I'm paying the rest of my 18/19 tax, plus half of what they think I will need to pay in 19/20. You can apply to have it reduced if circumstances change. I've worked less this year due to sickness, so I may ask to reduce it in January depending on how much work I can pick up between now and Christmas.
Okay, so when I do her 18/19 assessment they’ll use that to base what she owes for 18/19 which needs to be paid by Jan 2019, and they also predict what she’ll earn in 19/20 and 50% of that will also needs to be paid in Jan 2019?
 

Back
Top