Tax questions, thinking about self employment

[craigjm]

Hi all, I am thinking about going it alone. Having never done anything like that though I have some questions. The going rate for my kind of work when new to the consulting game appears to be around £400 a day with about £100 for expenses. So if the role you took on was away from home and resulted in your staying in a hotel during the week I take it you could claim that as an expense. Could you also do that with meals? train tickets? what about your car if you used it to get there and back on Monday and Friday? I would like to keep my tax bill as low as possible obviously so what other things can you claim for?

How does it work (forgive my ignorance) if you get the £100 for expenses etc and you get a hotel room with breakfast and evening meal for that say what does that actually cost you? I dont understand how it all works. Whats the best place on the net to get advice?

[rog007]

'Business Expenses. These are all the ongoing expenses associated with running your business that you can deduct from your 'gross profit' figure on your profit and loss account to calculate a figure of 'profit before taxation'.'

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail...

Good luck!

[anonymous-user]

Go and spend an hour or two with an accountant, it will be money well spent. You will need to thoroughly understand how and what records to keep to keep HMRC happy, and also how to organise your affairs to minimise tax.

[Workshy Fop]

. If you were a permie and you went on assignment you'd expect hotel, train, taxi, subsistence etc. to all be covered by your employer.

You can stay in the Ritz or a Travel Lodge all week if you like and it would be allowable. That's not the point. Ultimately you want to get the company money in your pocket. You're not saving anything by running up loads of expenses.

[Eric Mc]

Why do you want to go "self employed"?

How many customers or clients do you intend to take on?

Who will be in charge of and be responsible for the work you do?

Do you know what the words "self employed" realy mean or imply?

[Fun Bus]

OP, I recently incorporated my own Limited company from which I work as a consultant. Get a good accountant whatever you do. I found one who is excellent at explaining things simply, ensuring I'm legal and above board whilst also ensuring I don't pay more tax than I need to. It's a complex world and is easy to get caught out - £1k a year well spent.

[craigjm]

Fun Bus said:

OP, I recently incorporated my own Limited company from which I work as a consultant. Get a good accountant whatever you do. I found one who is excellent at explaining things simply, ensuring I'm legal and above board whilst also ensuring I don't pay more tax than I need to. It's a complex world and is easy to get caught out - £1k a year well spent.

Yeah thats what I am thinking. I wont be having my own clients as such I will be taking work from consultancy companies.

[Eric Mc]

If you intend to work through your own limited company, you will not technically be "self employed". And you will also need to familarise yourself with the tax rules behind "personal service companies" - usually referred to as IR35.