Bookkeeping

When starting out one of the decisions you will need to make is which date to use for your accounting date or year end. It is easiest if your accounting year follows the tax year which runs 6th April to 5th April – your accounting date / year end is therefore 5th April. Your accounting… Read more: Accounting Date

If you are self employed you are legally required to keep records in order to file an accurate tax return. Failure to do so could result in a fine of £3,000. Business Income Bank statements, receipts, invoices and any other documents relevant to trading income should be kept. If you are registered for any other… Read more: Keeping Records

Self employed persons should be aware that there is a trading allowance of £1,000 available which is relevant to bookkeeping in that it may affect the records you need to keep (and whether or not you need to file a tax return – see HMRC). If your total trading income is £1,000 or less then… Read more: Trading Allowance

Most self employed persons now use some kind of software for keeping on top of their accounts. Many accounts software providers have been moving their packages online to provide cloud accounting however their are still some desktop options available. If you use a software package remember to check that it will support cash basis accounting.… Read more: Accounting Software

Income Different types of income should be kept separate / categorised in your accounts. For example a business may have the following types of income:- Sales – money received from customers in the course of providing it’s service Interest – interest received from the bank Grants – grants received Track them separately in your bookkeeping… Read more: Income & Expenses

If you use a vehicle for your business, you can claim expenses based either on business mileage or on actual costs. In both cases, if the vehicle is used for both business & personal travel, you will need to track & log business mileage. Actual Costs When claiming actual expenses for vehicles there will many… Read more: Vehicle Expenses

Running a Vehicle Instead of claiming the actual costs of the vehicle – which would be the purchase price, insurance, repairs, road tax, etc – you can instead claim a flat rate based on your business mileage. Once you start to use flat rates for a vehicle you must continue to do so for the… Read more: Simplified Expenses

The profit and loss or income statement is a summary of income and expenses for the accounting period. It should show the name of your business and the period that the statement covers. The following example of a profit & loss statement summarises the income & expenses of a small gardening business:- Sales Because the… Read more: Profit & Loss

The government plans to bring tax into the 21st century with their Making Tax Digital scheme which aims to make the administration of tax easier and more efficient. The first phase was Making Tax Digital for VAT and all VAT registered businesses are now required to keep digital records and submit their VAT returns digitally.… Read more: Making Tax Digital