NB: This blog mainly uses 2021-22 figures for Plan 2 loans. Figures change every tax year, and might be different for Scottish residents, but the principle is the same.
For useful links, scroll down to the Find Out More box.
Student loan repayments are a bit of a pain when you’re a PAYE freelancer.
READ MORE >Posted on 03 March 2022
I was struck recently that only nine people are in the pilot scheme for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-assessment (known, horribly, as MTD-ITSA).
This is the massive HMRC project requiring sole traders (people registered as ‘self-employed’) and landlords to report turnover and business costs quarterly from April 2024, using special ‘cloud accounting’ software.
READ MORE >Posted on 01 March 2022
Last week I tweeted angrily, not something I do often:
Unbelievable: @HMRCgovuk suddenly decides Arts Council Emergency Response grants for freelancers during lockdown are now to be treated as taxable. With 3 days till tax deadline. This was the ONLY income for some people during lockdown. Inhuman.https://t.co/b9kCXR0myq
— David O Thomas (@davidowenthomas) January 27, 2022
The tax office appears to have decided right at the last moment that certain Covid hardship grants should, after all, be taxable. Whereas they’d said earlier that they were not.
READ MORE >Posted on 31 January 2022
For the second year running HMRC have moved the deadline for filing your income tax self-assessment back to Feb instead of the usual 31st January.
They’ve relented to pressure from accountancy and other bodies because so many people are off with covid and might not be able to get everything done in time.
READ MORE >Posted on 07 January 2022
If you use an iPhone you may be aware of Apple’s latest operating system, iOS 15.
Apparently it’s full of “amazing” new features. Apple are going big on new memojis, and clever things that FaceTime can now do.
As a trainer in freelance business skills the new feature which caught my eye is called ‘Focus’.
READ MORE >Posted on 29 September 2021
The Westminster government invented a new tax for the UK this week. You can’t have failed to notice that we’re all going to be paying a ‘Health and Social Care Levy’.
You’ve probably also heard that it’s something to do with national insurance.
Well sort of. Here’s a look at the key features and how they might affect freelancers.
READ MORE >Posted on 09 September 2021
This video uses out-of-date percentages for tax and NI rates. But the principal of what happens when is unchanged.
If you work for someone else they will make deductions from your pay if you’re paid PAYE.
If you’re self-employed you sort out the deductions yourself. This video explainer looks at how the money flows.
READ MORE >Posted on 02 August 2021
I’ve been delivering training online for about eight years with some clients, and was able to move everything online pretty swiftly during the first lockdown in March 2020.
READ MORE >Posted on 06 July 2021
When you train people in understanding tax in the UK, you get to be a bit of a tax nerd after a while.
One of the nerdiest issues is why on earth does the UK start the income tax year on 6th April. (Look it up if you must.)
So now the Office of Tax Simplification is wondering whether to suggest changing the income tax year from 6th April-5th April to 1st April-31st March. Or even 1st January to 31st December.
I’d be ok with 1st April to 31st March. But the idea of a year end between Christmas and New Year would fill most people with dread I suspect. All that admin while you’re hung over.
Which would you prefer? And why?
Posted on 02 July 2021
One of the most stressful things for a new freelancer is talking about money. We’re not culturally set up to do this in the UK.
But there are ways to approach this knotty topic which will reduce stress and help you come across as professional.
READ MORE >Posted on 18 May 2021
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