Sole trader accounts in Hemington, East Midlands

Self-employed people in Hemington, East Midlands trading in their own name: tradespeople, drivers and couriers, hairdressers and beauticians, consultants, creatives, market traders, therapists, tutors and anyone else running a business without a limited company, from a first-year side business to an established trade with a van, equipment and a few thousand transactions a year.

• Income and expenditure account for the tax year or your accounting period, with a balance sheet where you want one
• Every expense category reviewed for what is allowable, including home working, vehicles and the trading allowance
• Capital allowances on equipment and vehicles, with the cash basis or accruals basis chosen to suit you
• A plain-English summary: profit, tax and National Insurance due, payments on account and what to put aside
• Figures prepared in the format the Self Assessment self-employment pages need
• Records organised and stored so that an HMRC check can be answered quickly

1. Scope the job

   We find out what you need filed, when it is due and what state the records are in, and tell you which fixed-fee package applies.

2. Agree the price

   The fee is confirmed in writing. There is no hourly billing and nothing added for questions during the work.

3. Hand over the records

   Photographs, PDFs, software access or a spreadsheet, sent however suits you. We confirm what we have and what is missing within two working days.

4. Approve, then we submit

   You review the draft with our explanation, sign off, and we file. Receipts, copies and the next deadlines come back to you immediately.

Hemington, East Midlands is in East Midlands, England. For businesses in England the tax rules are those set by the UK Parliament: the 20/40/45% income tax bands, Class 4 National Insurance for the self-employed at 6% and 2%, Corporation Tax at 19% to 25%, and Stamp Duty Land Tax on property. Business rates are set locally by the council.

The trading and property allowances

Not every small income needs a tax return. The trading allowance exempts the first £1,000 of self-employment or casual income and the property allowance does the same for rental income, each measured on gross receipts. They cannot be combined with rent-a-room relief on the same income, and claiming the allowance means giving up the expense deduction for that source.

Dormant companies

Dormancy is a status that is easy to lose. The strict rule is no accounting transactions other than share capital and Companies House fees, which means no bank account activity at all in practice. Fees should be paid personally by the director. A company that traded and has stopped becomes dormant only after its final trading accounts and tax return are filed and HMRC is told.

Workplace pensions and auto-enrolment

Auto-enrolment duties begin the day you take on your first employee, not when the Pensions Regulator writes to you. Eligible staff must be enrolled, contributions paid every pay period and re-enrolment carried out every three years. Director-only companies without employment contracts are usually exempt. Fines for non-compliance are fixed and escalating.

Employer National Insurance

The cost of an employee is more than the salary. Employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year, the 3% minimum pension contribution, holiday pay, equipment and management time all come on top. The Employment Allowance of £10,500 reduces the National Insurance for most employers with more than one person on the payroll.

Allowable expenses

The expenses sole traders most often miss are home working costs, claimed by actual proportion or HMRC's flat rate, the business share of phone and internet, mileage at 45p for the first 10,000 business miles, and training that maintains existing skills. The ones most often claimed wrongly are commuting, entertaining customers and clothes that could be worn outside work.

Record keeping

HMRC requires records of all income and expenses, bank statements, invoices and receipts to be kept for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline of the tax year they relate to, and companies must keep records for six years from the end of the accounting period. Digital copies are acceptable. Under Making Tax Digital the records must be kept in compatible software.

The 60-day property CGT return

Selling UK residential property that was not your main home for the whole period of ownership triggers a separate Capital Gains Tax return, due within 60 days of completion along with payment of the tax. This is in addition to the annual Self Assessment. The gain is taxed at 18% or 24% depending on your income band, after the £3,000 annual exempt amount.