“but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
― Benjamin Franklin.”
Do you dream of being your own boss, working for yourself or running your own business? Do you have a hobby that you enjoy so much you believe that you could earn a living for yourself from it? Perhaps you have a new idea that you would love to turn into a business? This is all you need to be successful: dreams, belief and ideas!
Working for yourself can seem daunting, you are good at the thing you want to do but there are so many more questions! Where do you start? How do you promote your business? How do you pay your taxes?
Scroll through the topics below for more detail on the different taxes you will hear about and find out how they apply to you. You can also navigate to the information you need quickly using our menu bar or search function
Making Tax Digital
Making Tax Digital, or MTD for short, is the Making Tax Digital, or MTD for short, is the name given to the government initiative that seeks to modernise and improve the processing of returns for all taxes, meaning more accurate and timely information available to HMRC and better liability predictions available for tax payers. Making Tax Digital simply means keeping your accounting records digitally, on the computer, in a way that is designed to be able to submit your records to HMRC in the way that they will require with MTD…..
Income Tax
Income Tax is a tax you pay on your income. You do not have to pay tax on all types of income.
Income you typically pay Income Tax on:
- money you earn from employment and benefits you get from your job
- profits you make if you’re self-employed and trading as a sole trader or partnership
- most pensions, including state pensions, company and personal pensions and retirement annuities
- income from renting a property
- some state benefits, but not all
- Interest on savings, over your savings allowance
- Dividends from company shares, over your dividend allowance
- income from a trust
- grants and support payments made to you or your business because of coronavirus as well as Test and Trace Support Payments are also liable to income tax
- some income that you receive from overseas
National Insurance
Once you reach 16 years old and earn above relevant thresholds, you will pay National Insurance contributions on your earnings which qualifies you for a state pension and certain benefits.
Corporation Tax
If you set up your business as a Limited Company then you must pay Corporation Tax on your company profits, money your company makes from investments or selling assets
Value Added Tax (VAT)
Value Added Tax, known as VAT is a tax that people pay when they buy goods or services. A percentage is added to the cost, the standard rate is currently 20% and around half of goods and services the average household buys are subject to VAT at standard rate. There are other rates or exemptions that apply and if you are registered for VAT you should ensure that you understand when and how these apply.
PAYE (Pay As You Earn)
Pay As You Earn in the system used by employers to deduct your income tax and National Insurance liability before they pay your wages to you.
Income Tax is cumulative, so this means that all income throughout the year must be added together to calculate your tax liability and then HMRC try to ensure that the correct tax is taken throughout the year. If this doesn’t happen then HMRC will assess any under or over payment once the tax year has ended. For this reason it is important that you understand your tax code and ensure that it is correct throughout the year.
Construction Industry Scheme (CIS)
Under the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS), contractors deduct money from a subcontractor’s payments and pass it to HMRC
Capital Gains Tax
Capital Gains Tax is a tax that is due when you sell something, referred to as “disposing of” something that has increased in value
Import And Export Tax
The tax paid on the import of goods is called import or custom duty. As well as raising income for the government, import duties are used to support foreign trade and policy and used to support UK industry by reducing foreign competition where needed.
Plastic Tax
Due to be introduced in April 22, this is a new tax that applies to plastic packaging produced in, or imported into the UK that does not contain at least 30% recycled plastic. Plastic packaging is packaging that is predominantly plastic by weight.
Self Assessment Tax Return
Self Assessment Tax Returns is a system used to calculate your Tax and National Insurance liability, this can be because your income isn’t taxed at source, for example, by an employer or because you income is more complex or you are self employed or have income from rental properties
“A person doesn’t know how much he has to be thankful for until he has to pay taxes on it.” – Unknown
There is a lot to think about when working for yourself and it is easy to become overwhelmed. Write notes as you navigate the information on our website and then break your notes down into bite sized to do lists, prioritise what needs to be done straight away and keep a list of things to revisit
Working for yourself is a constantly evolving learning curve, try to focus on one thing at a time and revisit the topics often as you become more confident and more successful.