Accounting?? how do you do it your self?

Question

my boyfriend has been self employed since oct07.he doesnt have a accountant as he isnt realy earning a great deal 2pay for one.he is dyslexic so when it comes to paper work he panics.what can he claim back?he keeps a log of a job he has done in a A4 book with what the job was,how much it has cost in parts & materials,how much he charged for the job and what he was left profit with all receipts.he also keeps diesel receipts.is he doin this totaly wrong??

Answer 1

Well, as long as he is keeping all the information, it shouldn't be that hard to sift through.

There are many other things that self-employed people can claim back, including a portion of the home utilites (assuming that he has worked from home - including administrative work) You can download information from HMRC regarding being self employed which will tell you what you can and can't claim as expenses.

The tax returns dates have changed and all tax returns must be in by the end of October.

Is he paying National Insurance - there is a different type of NI for self-employed and has he registered as self-employed with HMRC.

It might be a good idea to have a look in the paper for people offering bookeeping services. They are usually cheaper that accountants and would be sufficient for doing small books such as your boyfriends.

He needs to remember that a persons tax is their own affair and HMRC will not accept any arguments that "someone else" did your books and tax return though. He needs to have some knowledge of the way things work to ensure that he is not caught out by unscrupulous/incompetent bookeepers.

HMRC do some great courses that are usually free. They will explain what is required of a self employed person and the rudiments of tax and compliance. Give them a ring.

HMRC are not ogres (well not usually!) they are there to help as well.

Answer 2

Sounds like he is keeping really good records.

He will need to submit a tax return for his earnings from Oct 2007 to 5 April 2008 by 31 January 2009. He will need to make payments of income tax on these earnings on 31 Jan 2008 and 31 July 2008.

It will then be the same for the following year.

Have a look at:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/file-online.ht...