Mobile accounts

[chocolatepickle]

As a mobile therapist I've been keeping my own accounts simply.
I've not been trading for a year yet so havent had to submit a tax return before but with my new years resolution to sort out my business and run more professionally I've been looking at business link all morning... only theres so much to take in! I have just a couple of questions now and would be greatful if any geeks would be able to help please.

My accounts have been basic- I have a book and every time i have a job I write in there what it is and when i get receipts i staple them in on the relevant month. I have table consisting of:

Month/ income £ / outgoing £ / total (income minus outcome) £

is this good enough for a micro business or do I need to include more?

Also, before I registered as a business and still since then I buy lots of products I 'want' as I like to practice in my free time as a hobby as well.
I'm aware you can have pre-trading expenses but much of this was bought with the intention of personal use- before I decided to go self employed.
The receipts for this stuff far exceeds my income but I now use a lot in business... Do i put this through as expenses as obviously now if someone wanted it I have it.
I havent put them though as I thought it would just look like I am taking the p with the amount it would come to in comparison to the amount of income I have made.

My brain is frazzled! I'm waiting to hear of local business courses but havent heard anything yet so trying to just sort myself out in the meantime.

Also, the details I will be keeping so far include:

-My qualifications/ insurance.

-Product MSDS sheets

-Pat testing certificates for all electrical equipment I use (all my equipment is still quite new- is it yearly or 2 yearly I will need to do this? Do I need the receipts to prove how old these are as I'm not sure I have them all!?)

-Account details (as kept above?)

-Is this good enough for a small business and have I missed anything important?

Thankyou!

 

[sarahlouise7]

i know that with a past business i had, i was advised to put through all business related reciepts, which i did and was never questioned. its very expensive in the first couple of years of a new business so IR do expect your accounts to be running low and even at a loss so i dont think ul have any thing to worry about. HTH

can i ask u....where do u get msds sheets? do u have these for every product? thanks u x

 

[sukic]

Don't forget to add in your mileage for getting to and from clients, trip to suppliers, training etc. I add that into my spreadsheet too. :green:

 

[chocolatepickle]

Thanks, MSDS (material safety data sheets) are from the suppliers- yes for every product! I'm still g etting mine together too :irked:

 

[chocolatepickle]

Don't forget to add in your mileage for getting to and from clients, trip to suppliers, training etc. I add that into my spreadsheet too. :green:

I havent been doing this, i've just been putting in the odd petrol receipt- is that acceptable?

 

[jparkinson80]

Petrol will be your biggest exspense so if it relates to the job then put it in, although it can be very eye opening when you do put all your petrol receipts together, adds up!!!

Anything that relates to your business put it in, even if it's only for 99p!

 

[SJK]

I havent been doing this, i've just been putting in the odd petrol receipt- is that acceptable?

Probably not. I'm assuming you are mobile and have a car that you use for both business and personal journeys. If this is the case, you need to claim for the appropriate proportion of the expenditure you have incurred in your business activities. There are two ways to do this.

Note: the expenditure I'm talking about isn't just the petrol but also servicing, MOT, tax, insurance etc.

You need to apportion this expenditure correctly by saying, "I did X number of miles for business purposes and Y number of miles for personal purposes, giving a total of Z number of miles". This means you have to keep a complete and accurate total of all mileage, I'm afraid. You can then work out the proportion of costs you can claim for your business by doing the sum:

X divided Z multipled by 100 = the percentage of motor expenses you can claim as a business expense.

Alternatively, you can claim a simple mileage allowance of 40p per business mile you have travelled, to cover all motoring expenses, BUT you still need to know exactly how many business miles you have travelled.

 

[Puffle]

Probably not. I'm assuming you are mobile and have a car that you use for both business and personal journeys. If this is the case, you need to claim for the appropriate proportion of the expenditure you have incurred in your business activities. There are two ways to do this.

Note: the expenditure I'm talking about isn't just the petrol but also servicing, MOT, tax, insurance etc.

You need to apportion this expenditure correctly by saying, "I did X number of miles for business purposes and Y number of miles for personal purposes, giving a total of Z number of miles". This means you have to keep a complete and accurate total of all mileage, I'm afraid. You can then work out the proportion of costs you can claim for your business by doing the sum:

X divided Z multipled by 100 = the percentage of motor expenses you can claim as a business expense.

Alternatively, you can claim a simple mileage allowance of 40p per business mile you have travelled, to cover all motoring expenses, BUT you still need to know exactly how many business miles you have travelled.

This was very handy, thanks! Do I need to keep all petrol receipts too? As I'm just starting out my personal mileage is much more than business, so do they need them or should I just make a note of business miles?

 

[loobylou22]

Hi, Im in exactly the same boat, as its my new years resulution too!!!:lol:
I have been thinking of going to see an accountant to ask how it is all done properly, get everything in order and in the right system from the word go.
I have brought loads of things before i actually started as you cannot do a polish without polish, so will ask that too.
I have a lesson day thingy with business link on the 24th so will be asking all the questions. Will let you know if i hear anything of use as im also mobile, and not done anything yet.

 

[SJK]

This was very handy, thanks! Do I need to keep all petrol receipts too? As I'm just starting out my personal mileage is much more than business, so do they need them or should I just make a note of business miles?

Keep all your receipts for everything. You need to have proof of everything you've spent.

 

[tina]

hi

im still in my first year as a mobile therapist, what i do with mileage is on my spreadsheet, have the date, client ref, treatment, clients postcode and how many miles it is from my home address to that postcode then i have a column where I have already worked out the 40 pence per mile, I havnt worked it out as there and back though and I have a few petrol receipts but not sure if I need to keep them if I am just doing the 40p per mile thing.

have i confused you now!! lol

 

[sarahlouise7]

Thanks, MSDS (material safety data sheets) are from the suppliers- yes for every product! I'm still g etting mine together too :irked:

Thank you!

 

[tina]

is it essential to have the MSDS records?

 

[SJK]

hi

im still in my first year as a mobile therapist, what i do with mileage is on my spreadsheet, have the date, client ref, treatment, clients postcode and how many miles it is from my home address to that postcode then i have a column where I have already worked out the 40 pence per mile, I havnt worked it out as there and back though and I have a few petrol receipts but not sure if I need to keep them if I am just doing the 40p per mile thing.

have i confused you now!! lol

The important thing is to keep a record of your EXACT business mileage. I'm assuming that you rarely go out to a customer and then go back home again. You might go to a customer from work and then on to another customer. The exact business mileage will give you a true figure of what you can claim.

 

[Pika]

I have a spreadsheet that I made and printed off for mileage, have the date down the side, and along the top have From, To (destination), start mileage, end mileage, total miles and £'s worth of mileage (worked out as 40p a mile) this will cover your petrol, the % of car insurance/tax you use for business and general motor wear and tear (tyres). works out alot better than putting through petrol reciepts as they worked out a % of what they believe to be business use. just keep the spreadsheet in your car and fill it out as you go to and from places, i even put my mileage down when i go to the bank or the wholesalers.

Keep all reciepts that are related to business use, car park tickets for when you go to the bank with your earnings, even if its only 40p! It all counts!

 

[femmefan]

If you need to go over previous business mileage that hasn't been recorded properly then you can use an online routefinder to work it out. Start a new spreadsheet with columns for Date, Travel from, Travel to, Total Mileage, Total to Claim. Then use your appointments diary and fill in all your appointment details. Eg. If you travelled from home to a client you put your own address in the 'Travel From' column, then the clients address in the 'Travel To' column. Use a routefinder program to give you the exact mileage between these two addresses and put that in the 'Total Mileage' column. Multiply this by 40p and put the result in the 'Total to Claim' column. If you then travelled back home from the clients then do the same but in reverse on the next line, but if you didn't go home but went on to another client you need to put the first clients address in the 'Travel From' column and the next clients address in the 'Travel To' column. Don't forget to finish the trip with the going home calculation. At the end of the week or month you can then add all the 'Total to Claim' column to get the final figure for tax purposes. The most important thing is to make sure that your appointments diary, client record cards, and mileage claim sheets all show the same details.

Once you are completely up to date then it is easy to switch to using the mileage counter on your car to make notes for each trip.

 

[Lynne Baker]

Re MSDS sheets.
It's a good idea to have one pertaining to every product you have in case of an accident. Whether it's a legal requirement is a moot point but it's certainly the professional thing to do.
If you are inspected by your local council for electrolysis etc they will want to see them anyway. (At least, mine did!)

PAT testing. Every electrical item needs to be tested, some of them once a year, some once every other year, depending on which "class" the item falls into.

 

[chocolatepickle]

Thanks everyone for your input so far, its all very helpful. I will go through my diary and work out my exact mileage over the weekend...cant wait :lol:

Does the rest of my basic account keeping seem ok for a small mobile business though? I'm not sure if my record keeping is too simple? (In/ out/ difference)

Thankyou all :hug:

 

[Susie H]

Simple is good! Don't forget your phone, try to have one for work and one for personal, that way you don't have to work out the % the way you do for your car:lol:
Also clothing, I'm not sure how much you are allowd to claim for, that's probebly a question for your local collage or the business link people.
For example my daughter can claim back the cost of 2 pairs of trainers a year. (She's a personal trainer) she used to be able to claim back business lunches but since the whole goverment screw up on their business expenses, she can no longer take a client to lunch:irked:
If you do your accounts or keep your client records on your computer you can claim part of that too, but again I don't know what %.
Your local tax office are very helpful too so they are worth giving a call to.

 

[SJK]

Without seeing your books, and just going on your description, they sound okay. Be thorough and accurate and make sure you can justify anything you put down.

Regarding the items you bought for yourself and now use in the business, apportion the cost of the items to give a percentage that you used yourself, and the remainder that you now use in your business. For instance, if you have a bottle of something that you've just started to use in your business, and you think there is 60% remaining, put down 60% of the cost as a business expense BUT make sure you have the receipt and that it is within the current year or the previous year.