I'm Andy Mac and I've run businesses in the UK for over 25 years. I'm not an accountant. I'm not a solicitor. I'm in the same boat as you and I've been doing this for a long time. On this channel I'd like to share with you some of the stuff I've learned over the years. Self employment can be hard but you're not alone. Hope you enjoy the content! Andy Mac :-)
Please note that I do not give accountancy advice. Don't make business decisions based on the views of a random bloke on the internet. Seek help from an actual professional... and then question everything they tell you.
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Great content as ever, I would add, following on from my recent HMRC inspection, that Accountants are not the best way forward necessarily, I went to a recommended top accountant at several hundred pounds an hour and his knowledge was out of date the extent even I knew more and left the meeting and explicitly told him not to bother sending an invoice as I felt I had added more than he did. The next step was to look for an ex-HMRC inspector as they knew the parameters and the processes better than anyone. I was fortunate to employ the former boss of the department undertaking my inspection and he was held in high regard so he knew exactly what was and was not and no time wasted debating, he was straight and informed me that he would communicate only the facts he saw and would not bend any rules such that he could discuss the matter on the telephone and his word was taken for the most part. Still expensive but could have been much worse. As an aside if you need to track down your old statement and documents, go to the bank and if they suggest they will charge you, state you will request a GDPR disclosure for the last x years instead, they will then give you free copies very quickly. saved a fortune. I had a letting agency and suspect they were being targeted a they had access to landlords, tenants, contractors, service providers etc etc.
Phone packages where you spend the same amount each month regardless and you need it for work, claim 100%. You'd have to buy another phone to keep it apart. I sort of worry about use of home and claiming proportional expenses as then if you sell your house, capital gains could come into force. I think an amount that you consider reasonable is fine. If you're working 100% from home, don't forget the canteen for coffee, milk, sugar etc. Also only your portion for meals solely for business meetings, like with your accountant. 😄 You can pay the whole, but can only claim yours except any alcohol. If you're away from your home office all day, you can claim subsistence - check what HMRC pay themselves. The longer you are away, the more you can claim, regardless if you take a packed lunch etc.
Yup - all very valid points and great tips! In my experience it's all down to how the compliance officer is feeling at the time of audit. Generally they just want to get it over with as quickly as possible but as with all industries there are some jobsworths. 😁
Hi, is using a room as an office the same as working from home? I'm out working all day then come home and do some book keeping in my office or do I have to be in the office all day to claim? Thanks Mike
There's no requirement that I'm aware of to be in there all day. By the example from HMRC you can just apportion it to what you think is reasonable. As long as you can justify it if you're ever audited. I'll include a bit more info about this in the article smallbusinesstoolbox.uk/business-expenses/ - so keep an eye over there. 👍
Download the spreadsheets mentioned in this video (join as a member): smallbusinesstoolbox.uk/all-downloads/ Thank you for supporting this free channel and best of luck on your small business journey! 👍
I think the 'official' answer would be 50% each... since technically you're sharing the office space between both businesses. Having said that, the chances of you both being audited at the same time... 😉
Excellent. Microsoft has been so intrusive and the mega$ of their no back up revolts me, so I reckon I'll give this a go, together with an external SSD. Have just tried to back up google photos and I have much to learn. Thank-you. Now all I have to do is put the reigns on onedrive and move data where I'd like it to be.... and google photos if possible, though unfortunately it seems Acronis isn't managing google backups??
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Thanks for the review mate. Charges of the providers are high. I’ll stop accepting CC soon and start cash only even though there would be some loss of income.
For paper receipts you could scan them in as pdf and on Google drive have a 2024/25 tax year folder for them named sequentially as per your Expenses column BUT ALSO then add a "link" to that Google drive directory and past the link into the cell so it's immediately referenced if needed. Same for e-receipts but without the faff of needed them to be scanned in :)
I watched this over a year ago at first and now I went self employed start of the year I’ve come back to it and gone ‘what the fuck am I doing’🤣 as a gas engineer I can pretty easily get a job for 40k a year with cards in, but always wanted to work for myself since I was a kid, and this make me realise I don’t charge enough and sometimes I feel like I over charge! Very useful! Thanks
What do you recommend for a sole trader with an online shop plus a holiday property rental? I've just been using Nationwide for now but have been told that if they find out you've used your personal account for business, they close your account and charge you for the business fees you would have paid.
I have 5 spreadsheets Bank Purchases Mileage Sales Totals. They get filled in every day and any receipts are placed in a ring binder folder. At the end of the month all figures get transferred to a totals spreadsheet. Materials bought online where the PDF invoice is downloaded. Then finally at the end of the month all files and folders are backed up using FreeFileSync twice on USB sticks and put in a safe place. (just incase your computer fails or is stolen) Seeing someone with a carrier bag of invoices is funny to see so 10 minutes a day and it's done. PS I staple my small receipts on to a sheet of paper
I cannot even break 100 views. YT keeps knocking me down removing views. They have taken away over a hundred now. I am a very very small channel. I have done nothing wrong and there is no way any bots even know I exist. I will never make it to 1000. Never. This is deliberate so they do not have to pay people. You can bet YT is profiting off this.
Can you help me? When you're on the Tide app after you've created your account, it says "Business details required" @6:05 it then guides you through steps filling out details and it asks you for your UTR number. I can't find mine? Do I have to register for Self Assessment to get one? Or do I wait for my LTD company UTR to arrive (if it does) and use that? Or Self Assessment? 🤷🏻♂
