There was an interesting bit of news for limited company freelancers a couple of weeks ago.
If you’re not sure what a limited company freelancer is, read this guide >
The government announced it was ditching the plans for ‘Making Tax Digital for Corporation Tax’.
READ MORE >Posted on 01 August 2025
Late payments are always a hot topic on my training courses.
For any freelancer who sends out an invoice, it can feel like dropping a stone down a well and waiting to see when (if?) there’ll be a splash.
I even have a whole help sheet on the topic:
Help sheet 13: Late Payments and how to avoid them >
Posted on 01 August 2025
This post has been updated to clarify the difference between the sole trader registration threshold and the trading allowance.
Well, it’s nice to write about some good-ish news.
The government has announced that the point at which a sole trader has to register as such for self-assessment (ie filling in a tax form every year) will go up from £1,000 to £3,000 per year “in this parliament”.
That should mean that you’ll soon be able to earn £3,000 ‘on the side’ from sole trader work, without having to register as a sole trader for self assessment.
The change could benefit PAYE freelancers who just do a bit of sole trader work.
Posted on 12 March 2025
I’ve written many times over the last decade about HMRC’s big Making Tax Digital project – aka MTD.
Over the next few years it will mean a radical change for many sole traders.
If you’re registered as self-employed for self-assessment, this means you!
Some sole traders will need to get their heads around this from April 2025, for reasons I explain below.
You might even have received a letter from HMRC which alerts you to the fact that you might (or might not) need to engage with MTD from April 2026.
READ MORE >Posted on 16 February 2025
Any sole trader or company freelancer will know how important it is to get invoicing right. One missing code number, or the wrong format, and you might not get paid.
I even have a whole help sheet on late payments and how to avoid them >
A new government consultation is running until May on the next step in invoicing – e-invoicing.
READ MORE >Posted on 16 February 2025
If you’re signed up to my monthly newsletter you’ll know that I try to pick topical issues for freelancers, including links to useful blogs and sites.
I was going to blog about AI this month, putting a link in the December edition of the newsletter.
Instead I asked ChatGPT to write the newsletter for me!
You can see the result (with my critique) here >
Below is my original prompt to ChatGPT. It took me five minutes to write the prompt, and less than ten seconds for ChatGPT to write it.
Let me know what you think of the result.
And have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Write a monthly newsletter for December, in British English, with a similar style and format to this example:
The introduction should be friendly and personal, wishing people a Merry Christmas and successful and peaceful 2025. The introduction should be maximum 150 words. With each sentence as a separate paragraph.
There should be two further topic-related sections. The first of these sections should be a 150 word summary about recent developments in AI and what it means for the creative industries. Please reference these three articles and credit the authors:
https://www.writing-skills.com/what-if-your-employer-has-banned-chatgpt
https://www.techfinitive.com/features/chatgpt-is-going-to-change-the-world
The second section should be advertising two Setting up as a Sole Trader training courses, one on 27th January 2025 and the other on Tuesday 25th February 2025. Include a link to this booking page:
https://davidthomasmedia.com/training-courses/
Please suggest a copyright-free thumbnail image for each of the two sections.
Do not use the term ‘happy holidays’, as this is American English and I find it annoying.
NB: David Thomas Media Ltd is not responsible for the content of other sites nor any financial advice provided by them.
Posted on 19 December 2024
On the face of it Rachel Reeves’s first Budget (30 October 2024) focused on raising money from higher employer national insurance contributions, fiddling with Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax, and pissing off Jeremy Clarkson.
But just below the surface – in the accompanying Treasury documents – there are some interesting hints of things to come, including for sole trader digital record-keeping.
READ MORE >Posted on 02 November 2024
Last week I wrote a blog post outlining a few things which the new Labour goverment looked likely to change.
The one I missed was pension reform.
READ MORE >Posted on 17 July 2024
For nearly 20 years I’ve been helping people to understand how tax works as part of my Finance for Freelances workshops.
The income tax quiz and the tax bathtub graphic are always the highlights!
David’s famous income tax bathtub © 2024
This is not just for fun. If you understand the tax system you will be much less anxious about it.
And most people have never been told how their tax bill is calculated. They think it’s complicated, and it really isn’t.
READ MORE >Posted on 12 July 2024
I’ve been training freelancers for so long now that I can remember being freelance under a previous Labour government!
So does a change of governing party make a difference to self-employed people? Well – yes, if my experience is anything to go by.
It’s been fun looking back over nearly 20 years and finding a blog post explaining Gordon Brown’s tax plans. It feels like a different universe.
READ MORE >Posted on 12 July 2024
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