Author: Stephanie Whalley

As a freelancer, securing work is no linear process. Sometimes jobs trickle in while you anxiously twiddle your thumbs. At others, multiple clients contact you at once wanting work done immediately.

So you’ve become your own boss – big congratulations! But whether you’re embarking on a side gig or freelancing full time, taking this new and exciting step can also be pretty scary. One thing lots of new freelancers struggle to get to grips with are their tax liabilities. So we’ve put together a quick guide for freelancers on all things Self Assessment and tax returns to hopefully make things easier.

As an employee of a business, trading compliance is probably not going to keep you up a night (unless that’s your actual job). However, when you’re a self-employed freelancer, you’ve got to protect your livelihood and professional reputation.

Whether or not you can classify your labour as an allowable expense comes down to how you pay yourself from the business, and that depends on what type of business structure you have in place. As a sole trader, any profits that the business makes are yours to keep after paying tax. That means you aren’t able to reclaim the cost of paying yourself as an expense. If you run a limited company, you are considered separate from your business, meaning you are able to pay yourself a salary as a company director. Salaries are eligible as an allowable expense,…

Answering this question is tricky because realistically, you don’t need a business mentor. You’re probably perfectly capable of surviving – and thriving! – without one.

Recent times have been tough to say the least. For freelancers and the self-employed it’s been a time of struggle, looking for support amidst the global health and economic crisis of COVID-19. That’s why we make it our mission to guide aspiring freelancers and budding business owners towards the grants, policies and support avenues that are out there to help them. Today, we turn the spotlight on the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA), which has been in force since 2011 but is perhaps now more valuable than ever.

The very short answer to this question is that yes, in most cases you are allowed to carry out freelance work whilst in employment. That said, there are a number of circumstances that might mean this isn’t the case, or that there are conditions your employer expects you to adhere to.

We’ve spoken before about the many benefits of freelancing. Controlling your own time, being your own boss, and the flexibility and variety it brings to your life – just to name a few. If the current climate has taught us anything though, it’s that life as a freelancer certainly isn’t all plain sailing.

Data from a Simply Business survey reveals over 40% of freelancers have done work for free. That’s a significant number of freelancers providing time and expertise for no payment.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is a government initiative to generate a fully digital, paperless tax system. Initially introduced for VAT-paying businesses, it will soon extend to taxpayers using Self Assessment – which inevitably affects freelancers!