Do I need an accountant to be self employed in UK?
I am doing building work (small jobs) for 1 month on my own and receive cash payments. I have all records of my income and expenses. I want to be self employed. Do i need an accountant for this OR i can be registered myself..... IF YES PLEASE GIVE ME STEPS OF PROCEDURE TO BE REGISTERED AS A SELF EMPLOYED. Many Thanks for your help and time.
United Kingdom - 8 Answers
People Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
Answer 1 :
If its all cash, then don't bother. They will expect you to pay taxes. If you want to register, you need to call the business registry and get a business number. \You don't need an accountant. You can use simple tax software to do your own tax return.
Answer 2 :
Not at all! Firstly, if you are already keeping all your records of your income and expenditure then you are already doing the bulk of what you'd pay an accountant, or bookkeeper, for. If you contact your local tax office, they will happily send you out both any forms needed to register as self employed and the forms you'll need to make your tax return (these are what tend to scare people into getting an accountant, but they are really easy to fill in and come with a booklet explaining everything). A hint to avoid the common mistake of getting hit with a tax bill that you can't afford to pay is to put 25% of the profit that you make from each job into a separate bank account, so when your tax bill arrives, you'll have more than enough in that account to pay it (that's where many self employed people get themselves into trouble, by not setting anything aside for their tax bill and suddenly getting hit with a bill they can't afford to pay).
Answer 3 :
You don't need an accountant, but if you do this for more than one month, an accountant will almost certainly save you more than he costs. You don't need to register as self employed, but you do need to let the tax man (HMRC) know - you can earn £7475 a year before you have to pay any taxes.
Answer 4 :
To register - write to HMRC (address on their website), say you are doing this work and want to be set up in Self Assesment. They set up a record and notify you. You registr online, password by snail mail, you are now online and all set up. You must keep full records, you must have a separate business bank account, you must submit tacx return correctly and on time. You are urged to keep money back for the bill. Calcuator is online at the website again. If doing building work you might be required to register for the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS for short - a card lets you work for the big builder companies). An accountant might save a little but the website gives a lot of guidance.
Answer 5 :
You do not need one but when I was self employed I was glad I got one. He knew about tax allowances I had never heard of and saved me far more money than I paid him. He can also advise on VAT. For example it is not compulsory to register for VAT unless your turnover is above £73000 per year but you can register voluntarily. If you are not registered you pay VAT on what you buy but you cannot claim it back. It nay be beneficial to register voluntarily in order to claim back the VAT you pay.
Answer 6 :
Firstly, its too late to "want" to be self-employed. As soon as you do anything with a view to generating income you are self-employed. Clearly this happens when you actually do your first job, but if you have done (for example) advertising before that then you would have become self-employed then. All you need to do is to inform (you do not "register") HMRC that you are now self-employed. They will then arrange for you to pay regular Class 2 NI contributions (£2.50 per week) and for you to receive a tax self-assessment form at the appropriate time. At no stage do you need an accountant and you could trade for many years without using one. However, accountants will know all the tricks, allowances, reliefs, etc that will enable you to minimise the tax you have to pay, and keep your finances fully legal. There is nothing to stop you doing this research yourself, so whether (or when) you use an accountant is up to you. But in general the more money you are making the more likely it is that an accountant will actually pay for himself with what he saves you. Even if you do consult an accountant occassionally, I would suggest you don't pay him to do the simple things you could do yourself. IE don't ask him to register with HMRC for you, or keep your books on a daily basis, or fill in your self-assessment form, etc. Its not worth paying someone who charges £100s per hour to fill in forms.
Answer 7 :
First of all you must register with HMRC and you must pay tax on your income. You must register with them within 3 months of starting doing the self employed work. If you are OK with keeping your records - eg on an Excel spreadsheet then you don't really need an accountant so long as you keep things fairly simple. While they still exist contact Businesslink and get on their courses but be quick because they are being disbanded in November.
Answer 8 :
Read this: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/selfemployed/register-selfemp.htm You don't have to use an accountant, but I'd recommend you do as you obviously need some help.
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