Business Basics: Finance

Tax basics:

This reflects some changes announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves on 30 October 2024.

• Class 2 NI contributions are £3.45 per week for 2024-25.
• Class 4 NI is back down to 6%.
• The personal allowance (i.e. free of income tax and NI) is still £12,570
• The higher income tax rate of 40% kicks in after £50,270 (2024-25) for England, Wales and NI. The income tax bands for residents of Scotland are now very different. Check help sheet 3s.
• The points at which income tax bands kick in have been frozen since 2022, but will increase with inflation again from 2028-29, as they always used to
• VAT threshold is £90,000 from 1 April 2014. So you have to be VAT registered if your turnover in any 12 months hits that level.
• The Annual Investment Allowance (to buy kit and machinery) remains at £1m per year.
• Corporation Tax is 19% for all Limited Company profits below £50,000 in the year, with a sliding scale up to 25% when profits are over £250,000 per year.

Contacting HMRC

• Income tax enquiries (opens in new window)
• All HMRC support (opens in new window)

Places to find support if you're a new business:

• Benefits and local business support - business mentor etc through JobCentre Plus
• Prince's Trust - aimed mainly at 18-30 year olds

NB: The New Enterprise Allowance was closed in 2022.

Useful sites to deal with late payers

• www.payontime.co.uk includes an interest calculator
• www.gov.uk info about the legislation
  Late Payment Legislation was introduced in the UK in 1998 and across all EU countries from March 2013.

For Microsoft Office (Excel and Word) users...

These templates are provided in Microsoft format, but can be imported into Apple Pages or Apple Numbers software.

They can also be uploaded to a your Google Drive (incl Google Docs and Google Sheets), which is free.

If you need these templates in other formats, please email us at: training@davidthomasmedia.com

Download all MS Office templates together (Zip file)

Or individually:

Budgeting sheets to control spending
Spreadsheet - for personal (not business) spending

Spreadsheet - Monthly budgeting sheet for freelancers

Cash flow planners
Spreadsheet - Cash flow for sole trader/Ltd

Spreadsheet - Cash flow planner incl. household and PAYE income

Business income record sheets
for Sole Traders, Partnerships, or Ltd Companies
Spreadsheet - Income and Expense (Profit and Loss) account for businesses

UPDATEDSpreadsheet - Pay Slip record for PAYE freelancers

Getting paid properly
Template 7 - Invoice. (Or here for a pdf example with notes.)

Handout 13 - Blank project proposal form - with notes


For media freelancers (including PAYE/payroll freelancers)Simple "Confirmation of Booking" letter - downloads Word doc in new window