Whether you’re a sole trader or a limited or public company, if you are self-employed you need to be an on the ball person. Juggling jobs and organising your own finances and tax payments can be more stressful and time consuming than you imagine, and it certainly isn’t for everyone.

Below are some guidelines to give you an idea of what’s required if you want to set up your own business. But tax is a complex area, so you should always seek professional advice before you begin trading.

Running a business

As a self-employed person, you will receive gross earnings from your customers on which you pay tax through a self-assessment tax return. You must complete your tax return each year, doing so as promptly as possible so that you can begin to plan for your tax payments. It is essential that you keep proper records of all your business income and expenses, including copies of invoices to customers and receipts for purchases (especially if you are VAT registered). A bookkeeping software package is good for this, but a simple ledger will be fine. And although not essential, it might be an idea to hold a separate business bank account to keep your business affairs apart from your personal finances.

Inland Revenue, Customs and Excise and VAT

You must tell the Inland Revenue (IR) that you are trading within three months of starting the business or else you will be liable for a penalty. If your turnover exceeds £52,000 in any 12-month period, you must register for VAT, informing Customs and Excise within 30 days of your turnover reaching this level. You can also register for VAT if you have a smaller turnover, and this allows you to reclaim the VAT element of all of your costs. Unlike income tax, VAT relates to single transactions so the VAT invoice or receipt must be kept for every transaction related to the business.

National Insurance

Self-employed people are required to pay Class 2 contributions unless you have an exception because of your age, because you already pay Class 1 contributions or because you have small earnings. The Class 2 rate is currently £2 per week. Direct debit is the easiest way to pay your National Insurance bills, although you can pay by other means if you prefer.

Limited company

Trading as a limited company gives you a measure of protection against commercial creditors. As a sole trader or partner, you are fully liable for any business debts and may be made bankrupt if the business fails. If you are a limited company, however, you are usually only liable for debts to the extent of your share capital in the company, except in cases of fraudulent trading.

Paying tax on profits

The calculation of a taxable profit depends upon the tax laws that apply to you and the amount of money you have earned in a year. Whatever your situation, your first tax bill will be on January 31st following your first tax year. And this first bill will include a payment on account for the next year. So basically, you will pay one and a half year's tax in one go, but this only happens in your first year of payment. After that, payments on account are made every year, based on the tax payment for the previous year, and fall due on January 31st in the tax year to which they relate and July 31st following. So, if your 2001/02 tax payment (due January 31st 2003) is £1,200, you will make payments on account for 2002/03 of £600 on January 31st 2003 and of £600 on July 31st 2003.

Tax investigation

The self-assessment tax procedure is accompanied by random tax audits to monitor the system. The Inland Revenue can investigate your business affairs at any time and without reason. In fact, it conducts 750,000 investigations each year, about 8.5% of all tax returns, which means that anyone may find himself being investigated without knowing why or what the IR is looking for.

If handled correctly, an investigation may not be so daunting. Remember three important tips:

• Keep accurate records. Records are the evidential backbone of your business. The more accurate and detailed they are the stronger your case.
• Deal with enquiries promptly and efficiently. From your first response to an inspector's query, he will be building up a picture not only of your business but how responsibly you take your tax affairs.
• Negotiation. An inspector has the power to negotiate on penalties and will take into account factors such as how you help with the enquiry and what course of action you offer to put matters right.

Employment status

Although there are no definitive rules as to a person’s employment status in the UK, the distinction is usually whether you are working under a contract of service (employment) or a contract for services (self-employment). The IR will usually look at the following factors.

You are employed if:

• You yourself do the work rather than hire someone else to do it for you
• Someone can tell you at any time what to do or when and how to do it
• You work at the premises of the person you work for or at a place he/she decides
• You are paid by the hour, week or month and often for overtime
• You work set hours or a given number of hours a week or month

You are self-employed if:

• You have the final say in how the business is run
• You risk your own money in the business
• You are responsible for meeting the losses as well as taking the profits
• You provide the main items of equipment you need to do your job, not just the small tools many employees provide for themselves
• You are free to hire other people on your own terms to do the work you have taken on and you pay them out of your own pocket
• You have to correct unsatisfactory work in your own time and at your own expense

Occasional earnings

Do not confuse occasional income with seasonal income, which is always classed as self-employment. Occasional or intermittent earnings may not be classed as self-employment, but each case will be taken on its own merits. Occasional earnings must be disclosed on a self-assessment tax return and tax paid at the normal time.

Find out more

The people who deal with your tax payments are not the enemy you might think they are. In fact, of all the customer service personnel you will ever deal with, they rank among the friendliest and most efficient.

- For Inland Revenue, visit www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk

- For Customs and Excise, visit www.hmce.gov.uk

- For details about record keeping, go to the Customs and Excise site and download booklet 700/21

- For information about employment status, go to the Inland Revenue site and download booklet IR56

- For any other enquiries, visit or phone your local tax office