Keeping track of payslips is a bore. This is especially true if you’re the kind of freelancer who moves around a lot, and has bits and pieces of work with lots of different employers.
I’ve devised a very simple spreadsheet which collects all your payslip info for the whole tax year in one place.
READ MORE >Posted on 28 June 2019
Making Tax Digital (MTD) is a hot topic on our courses at the moment.
Under current plans, from April 2021 [update 27/9/21 – it’s now from April 2024] sole traders with annual turnover more than £10,000, will have to use special software to report turnover and business expenses every quarter. So that means as they go along, as opposed to all at once at the end of the tax year.
This is a big change, and HMRC seems very keen to push ahead with this project, in spite of everything else that’s going on in the country.
At the 2019 BECTU Freelancers’ Fair in London I caught up with FreeAgent, one of many software providers trying to corner the freelancer market once MTD is compulsory.
I asked Matt Perkins from FreeAgent about the cost, whether software will replace accountants, and how on earth we choose which software to buy.
Posted on 24 June 2019
I’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about pensions. Not from ancient people like me, but from young freelancers starting out on their career.
This never used to happen. Savings were never on the mind of people in their 20s, fresh out of college and excited about finding work.
READ MORE >Posted on 05 April 2019
The Spring Statement by the Chancellor got rather overlooked yesterday, what with the government falling apart a bit.
It’s worth picking up on one thing though. There seems to be a concerted effort to stop companies paying late for work completed.
READ MORE >Posted on 14 March 2019
If you were one of the many people who left everything to the 31st January tax return deadline, you might now be recovering from what I call the tax hangover.
It’s caused by a mixture of adrenaline, that feeling of wooziness because you’re not quite sure if you did everything right, coupled with relief that it’s over, followed hotly by the unpleasant realisation that you have to do it all again next January.
But it doesn’t have to be like that!
READ MORE >Posted on 12 February 2019
You might be vaguely aware that the 31st January is an important deadline for tax affairs.
In fact it’s two deadlines:
READ MORE >Posted on 14 January 2019
I’m writing this just as the Chancellor sits down from delivering his 2018 budget. It was heavy going, mainly because his jokes were so awful.
What he covered in the speech is only the tip of the iceberg. More detail will drip out as we trawl through the big Budget Red Book.
What I can give you here is a quick run-down of bits that might affect freelancers and self-employed folk, as he mentioned them in the House. READ MORE >
Posted on 29 October 2018
At a recent freelancing workshop someone asked a great question. “How can I avoid being skint in winter when there’s no work?”
This simple question goes to the heart of good financial management when you’re freelancing.
We have a short video explainer about freelance cash flow planning.
Watch it on our Free Stuff page >
Posted on 01 October 2018
I’ve been going through cash flow planning with sole traders now for nearly 15 years, and it’s a great way to plan how to not run out of the money.
A cash flow sheet READ MORE >
Posted on 01 October 2018
Well. Would you Adam and Eve it.
After 2 years of toing and froing over Class 2 national insurance, the government has announced sole traders will continue to pay it after all.READ MORE >
Posted on 10 September 2018
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