Home business sole trader, accountant needed?

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Freelancetrainer

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Location
Kent
Hi folks.
I’ve been up and running for nearly 8 months now working alone. I’ve kept all receipts and invoices and kept records of income/outgoings etc.

I’m paying voluntary class 2 NI but starting to wonder if I should as it seems the benefits it provides don’t apply to me so perhaps I shouldn’t be paying it. I’m thinking maybe I should have an accountant to help but my income isn’t exactly huge and I think I can do everything myself. That said, maybe an accountant will make things tidier for me. I may be over recording info etc.

Are there any other sole traders who work alone that use an accountant and do you think it’s worthwhile or necessary?
 
Definitely use an accountant. As much as you can probably do it yourself, accountants know the ins and outs of tax, and can far more competently deal with HMRC when needs be. I used to do my own returns but my accountant just takes the stress away. Hope this helps!
 
They may not apply to you now..but if you don’t have the necessary contributions and you require help in future you won’t have had enough contributions if you stop. Eg jobless one day/unable to work/need a pension. But only you can decide what’s best for you. You can make contributions at any time to make up for x amount for previous years, but it does go up each year.

As for an accountant, I have self employed friends that say their accountant saves them more money than they cost...but in reality..it’s free for me to do it and it takes about 3hrs to type it all up every 8 weeks (or a few mins each day/week). I have expenses and income just as they do. I know exactly what is an allowable expense (if you aren’t sure The princes trust runs a free course on being self employed and there is a full day with an accountant that teaches you all about what you need to know), so there is no reason for me to pay anyone. Its so simple. Scan receipts. Add income to spreadsheet. Add the expenses to the spreadsheet. Having a column for each allowable expense category means if something isn’t allowable it won’t get in there, therefore no issues.
 
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Thank you both for your replies. Do either of you know what an accountant would charge? I had thought perhaps an accountant could get my admin or spreadsheets together, show me what to do and leave it to me. The Princes Trust course sounds interesting. I’ll look into that.
 
Thank you both for your replies. Do either of you know what an accountant would charge? I had thought perhaps an accountant could get my admin or spreadsheets together, show me what to do and leave it to me. The Princes Trust course sounds interesting. I’ll look into that.

An accountant would need setting up to do it on your behalf so I very much doubt they would set it up and show you how it’s done. The spreadsheets you need are all on the princes trust website available for download. Give it a try before you waste money on someone else doing it, I personally think it’s as easy and quick brushing my teeth. A child could do it.
 
Speak to @salonfrog on this forum. They're specialist accountants for the industry.
 

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