I retire from the cops in October
Intending to buy a small van and do gardening, property maintainance.
I’ve got a few jobs already.
Will have to register etc
Any tips from anyone who has started up gratefully received!
I’m really good at doing things, but not so good at tax, bookkeeping etc
I take it a accountant is a must
What about t ax returns,aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhgggghhh

Just start doing it and see how it goes, you have a few months before you have to register as a sole trader with HMRC IIRC.

They are pretty relaxed if you leave it longer anyway IME, as long as you are honest and willing to pay your dues.

You may not need an accountant or find it economical to get one if the money is relatively small. I started out as a sole trader and quickly moved to Ltd Company when I got a partner and things took off. Got an accountant then.

Do you have a local business link? They may do a workshop for small businesses, telling you the most basic stuff.

Find and speak to an accountant!
You will need to consider insurance including liability along with a few other things. They should be able to put you on the right track with regards to structuring things to make sure you can be tax efficient with start up costs etc. (buying van, tools etc)

I’m not looking at working full time
Probably 3 days a week, and if it get busy will put a lot of the work my sons way,
I’m trying to find an accountant, what do they typically charge for a year

tax isn’t so bad if you keep on top of it and the hmrc has a fair amount of guidance to help you out. also, if your turnover is sufficient to justify one, you’ll want to know enough about how your tax works to know why precisely you’re shelling out for an accountant.

it might be worth checking out with your local authority what they’ve got in the way of business support. most often it may be they’re woeful (and never actually run a business!) but occasionally you’ll come across someone who’ll give you a decent bit of advice.

Hi, get yourself on one of these 2 day courses. all free and will answer all your questions Ken Horn start up in business courses
Best thing I ever did, and ken keeps in touch to see how you are getting on and if you need any more advice..

Whilst an accountant will provide the advice and keep you the right side of the regs, it sounds like a book keeper will be as important to you. There are usually folk who do this sort of thing part time – ask around, yellow pages etc.

Mine charges me £250 per year. He probably doesn’t save me much in terms of dosh, but it’s worth it just to have him sort the paperwork and remind me about deadlines. Means I can relax more, which for me was part of the point of being self-employed. No point in going it alone and being stressed out any more than necessary. Good luck.

good luck – I do the same sort of thing. I love it, just be realistic about what you can & can’t do, when I started I took on anything that came my way, now I am a bit lazy & cherry pick the best paying jobs – I work half the time & earn 80% of the money.

You can’t beat working for yourself, good luck.

PM me if you want any advice.

to clarify my first point it was find and speak to one before you start, take advice on starting up and what you need.

Did the same over where when I started up in Oz. Just put me on the right side of what to keep, claim and record. Just gone back for an end of year return.

After that either a book keeper or course. If you have the cash it may be easier to pay for year one and get everything setup, take notes and look after it yourself from year 2.

Register with HMRC as self employed and set up your NIC Class 2 payments. Both these can be done online and should be done with 3 months.
Bookkeeping just keep a simple spreadsheet of all your income and expenses, one column for each expense or just a list with details and amounts. If you not sure of an expense still enter it and put some extra detail against it so the accountant can decide for you.
All your initial capital expenditure; van , tools, computer etc will be offset against your taxable profits in the first year as annual investment allowance. If you then have a tax loss this will be carried forward and offset against future profits for the business but can’t be used against your other income i.e. PAYE or pension.
I normally charge around £250 for the accounts and £80 for the tax return or for slightly more a bookkeeping service where all you do is send me your sales invoices, receipts and bank statements the rest is taking care of for you.
As a sole trader you don’t need a business bank account and can use a personal account which will save you on future bank fees. I would suggest keeping your business separate to your everyday banking account though.

Here’s my tuppence worth after starting a few:
1. Get a good accountant from the outset, speak to lots and go with someone who you get on with and has an account base of businesses of a similar size to you. They can save you time and money.
2. Speak to as many different people as you can – there are government business advisers, bank business advisors, the Federation of Small Businesses has info and the internet is packed with advice.
3. Make sure you have all of the requisite insurances and that includes 3rd party liability, vehicle insured for business use, if you are subbing you may need additional insurance, if you are working on private property you may need some form of indemnity – we are becoming increasingly litigious.
4. Separate bank accounts from the outset, it prevents things getting tangled up.
5. Make sure you know the implications of passing work to your son, there are regs in place re how much he can do for you before he is treated as an employee and that bring a whole raft of other things to think about but your accountant should be able to advise you on that.
6. get it all in place before you start and it will be easier in the long run.

It may look and sound daunting but its brilliant fun, the best decision I ever made was to leave corporate life and go alone – now have 3 businesses bubbling along nicely. There’s ups and downs but they are my ups and downs, not caused by some numpty in HO with no idea. Whatever you choose to do, good luck.

Agree with what mikewsmith and rogerthecat said, but a note about accountants fees – the numbers quoted on here are very low and you need to know what you are getting for your money. I pay £200 per month, but I get all business and personal tax returns done, vat returns done, payroll returns done (pay myself just enough on salary to get maximum use of tax free allowance), and most important of all to me I get sound advice about dividend policy, allowable expenses and all manner of structural things like whether to buy/lease cars, usually without asking for it.

My mates think I pay too much, I think I get good value for what I pay and can’t imagine having to issue myself with payslips and tax vouchers for dividend payments, etc.

Whatever you decide, good luck.

Thanks for all the advice
Food for thought
I am looking forward to working for myself, and escaping the constraints of the police hierarchy

Pool,an
Cheers
I was self employed years ago, and did all sorts of jobs
But this time around don’t want to be taking on any big projects
Bit of gardening, painting, bit of plumbing (no gas)
Like you will be cherry picking, as I don’t need a full wage, as I’ll have my police pension to fall back on
My wife is a self employed chiropodist, so she has loads of older customers who are always asking for someone to do small jobs like mending a door , or painting lounge etc
Most tradesman can’t be bothered with small jobs like that, so hopefully will be able to keep busy

Self employed here, you dont need an accountant,just someone good at figures, as youll be buying little in the way of stock a book will do , one side of open book money coming in, tranfred from invoice book, and the other side money going out, 2 columns cash and cheques,

Buisness link do free courses for strart up buisnesses, and banks offer cheap or free banking,use a bank branch local to where you work.

Public liability insuirance is a must as youll be using tools and also buisnes use for any vehicle.

All tools and equipment are tax deductable as are work clothes boots and stationery, get the van sign written or magnetic signs to advertise.

Oh and enjoy meeting nice people, who sometimes give you tea and biscuits and money.

£1k a year for accounts, worth it, making mistakes doing your own accounts can cost much more.

Got no advice but good wishes hope it works out. 🙂