7th August 2010, 01:01 PM
The first thing you will need to do is register as self-employed - there's a phone number to do it. HMRC are really helpful. I've been self employed since 2006 and you don't really need an accountant if your earnings aren't going to be over ?30K or so. You don't need to register for VAT unless you expect to make more than ?70K in a year. Keep a record of your expenses and reciepts, income and outgoing and you'll need to fill in a self-assessment tax return at the end of the year. If you earn less than ?68K then you only need to put down your totals of profit/loss and expenses rather than breaking everything down.
HMRC run a free half day workshop for those going self-employed which explains what records to keep, what expenses are allowable including how much for working from home, how you pay your tax and national insurance (watch out for Class 4 NI too). It was well worth going to, and free compared to an accountant. Having said that a good accountant should make back their fee in going through your receipts. It just depends how much you reckon you're going to earn and how organised you are with paperwork!
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/selfemployed/
HMRC run a free half day workshop for those going self-employed which explains what records to keep, what expenses are allowable including how much for working from home, how you pay your tax and national insurance (watch out for Class 4 NI too). It was well worth going to, and free compared to an accountant. Having said that a good accountant should make back their fee in going through your receipts. It just depends how much you reckon you're going to earn and how organised you are with paperwork!
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/selfemployed/