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
READ MORE >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)
READ MORE >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
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
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!
READ MORE >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
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
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
READ MORE >Posted on 12 July 2024
Everywhere I look these days someone is telling me to check my National Insurance record. I’ve discovered why…
READ MORE >Posted on 20 May 2024
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