Mobile & Money

[Claire83]

Ok, where to start?

I am a mobile nail tech and I have bought all my products from my personal savings to start up. As yet I do not have an account for my business takings, because I wanted to check a few things out on here.

As I have no overheads, and still live with parents so no household bills!, I am wanting to know what to do with my earnings.

This week I completed my first treatment and was given a tip from the client. Do I put all of this money into my 'business account' or just the cost of the treatment? Do I then keep the tip for myself?

Also how do I go about giving myself some money, buying products and savings? Obviously I want to make a profit and have money but I'm completely lacking any business sense when it comes to money.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[jes]

Whatever money you make from your business (including tips) has to be recorded and declared to HMRC. What you then do with that money is your business, but remember you will, eventually, pay tax and NI on it.

 

[silverbird9t9]

Also, do remember to keep ALL receipts no matter how small. It all adds up. If you keep simple records of incoming and outgoing money on a weekly basis, it should be relatively simple to complete your annual self assessment. Whatever you do, don't let it mount up for a whole year before tackling it. Tax return time was miserable in my house until I learnt the hard way.

However, it may be a good investment to have an accountant finish it off for you because they will be able to advise you on expenses that you are allowed to offset against your tax.

I am not sure but you may also be able to claim a proportion of household bills e.g. it is reasonable to spend an amount of time at home doing your paperwork and using electricity.

 

[skymark]

If you dont want to get a full business account just yet then you can easily set up a regular seperate current account with a different bank to your regular one to put your work monies in.

You do have to tell the bank what you expect to earn etc to open an account but a rough guestimate is good enough. These days it is easy to set up a bank account online. I recently set up a bank account with Lloyds online and within 2 days they sent me all my details in the post.

Setting up a business account is also easy enough in a bank, but remember there are extra fees for business accounts.

A savings account for tax is also a good idea.

 

[Claire83]

Sorry for the baby steps with regards to this.

So do I need a book keeping type of book to write these things in? How would you record the treatment + tips? What about the things I have already purchased with my own money, do I keep these receipts still or only things that I buy from now on?

 

[bexd]

Hi Clare, if you have registered that you have gone self employed from a certain date and the reciepts fall after that date then include them.
I personally just have a note book to write all my ingoings and out goings in everyday i'll lay it out like this
Date
Cash
Cheques
Debit Card
Gross
Expenses
Nett
Then at the end of week and every month i'll tally it all up, it's so much easier when you are doing your self assesment, i also keep a reciept book so every time i buy something for the business no matter how small i record it in there then it's so much easier to make sure you have all your reciepts up to date Hope this helps a bit, it all seems so daunting when you're starting out but as long as you keep on top of things it's easy.

 

[Claire83]

Thank you, yes that does help me.

So I buy products for the business with the money I have earnt and not my own money right?

How do I account for the tips?

I hate money.. my sister is an accountant who will no doubt help when it comes to the end of the year, but at the minute she is dealing with my brother-in-law who has just found out he has got cancer, so it's not exactly something she wants to think about right now.

 

[karenrose]

Yes once you start making money and you need to buy new products use the money the business has made and not the wages that you have paid yourself.

 

[bexd]

Sorry to hear about your bro in law :cry: but yep you would pay for anything to do with your business with the money you have earned, but you obviously need to start up with stock and equipment before you have earned anything so you would record this in your book as an expense as long as you have the reciepts and you wouldn't be in profit untill you had earned enough to cover the expense if you know what i mean. Regarding your tips just write down each day/week what you have got but don't include it in to your nett total, in your self assesment there is a seperate box to record tips.

I try to set out a wage so for example say i earned £500 in a week i would bank all my takings in to my business account (although i havn't got a business account just a seperate account) then transfer my wage say £200 in to my own personal account, always make sure you have enough money in your business account for stock, n.i contributions, and also i try to leave extra for when i'm on holidays/quiet weeks and if i'm ever ill and most importantly make sure you save money for your tax bill. Good luck with everything:green:

 

[Claire83]

Ok, thank you for all your help!

I know I'm not going to be earning a wage as of yet, what with start up costs and everything. I'm still unsure about all this wages stuff. Is it best to pay myself a wage each month or wait til the end of the tax year and do it then.

I can't seem to get my head around it for some reason.

 

[jes]

Okay, lets say you take exactly £1000 every week. That £1000 is your money. You can take the whole £1000 and spend it on whatever you like, you could spend £500 on yourself and spend £500 on things for your business or you could do something like spend £200 on yourself, £200 on your business and leave £600 on your business account.... BUT at the end of the tax year you will have to pay tax and NI on that £1000 you took every week, so you need to have the money to pay HMRC when their bill arrives. There's lots of things to take into consideration, like your tax allowance and expenses, but in very rough terms it would, probably, be a good idea to keep around 20% of your takings aside to go towards tax and NI (£200 out of each £1000)

 

[GracefulH&B]

Hiya.

I am a complete spend thrift so from the minute I set up my business, I had a business account. Everything I earn goes into it and everything I spend on the business goes out of the business account. I used personal savings to set up the business and as I didn't want to spend a fortune setting up an overdraft or getting a business loan, I got a personal credit card and I use that for buying things for the business. Obviously, you have credit card interest, but it is less than an overdraft or a loan. I went on a start a business course which really helped me.