Aibu to think that no matter what I do I will never have a home?

[Sothisishowitfeels]

When i was a child we moved around a lot , lived in 20 odd different houses. As a teenager and 20 something DH and I tried to stay put but landlords keep selling up or wanting to move back in etc so still having to move plus the restrictions and uncertainty of renting .

Dh became ill 7 years ago and lost his job so we set up our own business which we have poured the last 6 years into working long hours and trying to save for a deposit. We saved £10,000 in 6 years which probably sounds pathetic to some people but it was all we could.

We did better in the business last year because of one fluke project (so not likely repeated this year) and a month or two ago we had a big tax Bill which we ended up transferring all of our savings to pay off. We probably should have seen it coming but we just didn't think it would be so big which I know is our fault.

So we tried to brush it off and decided ok we will save money on childcare etc if I don't work and I am a SAHM , we did have a nanny (because working hours were so long it wasn't covered by nursery). We just got a Bill for her unpaid holiday pay and I had to transfer all if the remaining money in my personal account to pay for that. I now have £3. No food apart from the dregs of the cupboard and we just heard our landlord is back in the country and may want the house back.

Seriously? I just want to have somewhere to live that is home , and I know loads of people will say oh where ever your family is ThAts home - not so great when you can't put things on the wall and might get notice to move at any point. It doesn't feel like home.

A hut in a field would do at this point but I don't think my £3 is going to get me even that....

Aibu to just give up.

Yep, completely understand. Don't be afraid of alternatives, just weigh them up the same way you are assessing the business. You've taken on the world and shown you can hold your own - there's nothing to fear now.

I am really confused. You said it made 65k, I assume that's 65k profit. And paid almost 50% tax. I just can't see that being right. Do you mind disclosing what your turnover was?

Just read blue is it backdated?

So you're sure the tax you have paid is right and you cannot claim a £10k refund?

Are you making sure you save every month now the 20% VAT people pay you and 20% of what comes in for corporation tax or whatever your tax will be plus it sounds like you have employees? is that right? Why are you both employees of your company? Did the accountant say you had to be?

As for makign more money - could you diversify? I think it's a good idea to have several sources of income - each in a couple their own business or employment, evening work, extra work and may be letting a room even if the children have to sleep in your room to help make savings? Could you move in with parents to save?

My daughter bought a buy to let in her 20s and lived at home until she could afford to live in it which she managed to this year when she moved jobs and got a £15k pay rise.

Well if your turnover was 65K the VAT on that is 10K, so is it possible your previous accountant had not been filing your VAT returns correctly?

Op. That doesn't sound right. You should have had very little personal tax on 11K each. Your company should have paid 20% corp tax on the 65k minus the 22k and minus any other operating expenses (make sure you are claiming these properly). Your tax should have been about 8k! Unless you owe previous years too? I recommend you search on the internet for an accountant specialising in limited companies and pay them no more than £100/mth for them to do all your company and personal tax returns. Look into it. Something is horribly wrong with the tax amount and possibly the way you are operating.

Also you are below the VAT threshold!

shewept I've no idea, that was just a guess.

The turnover of the company was 65,000 profit was about 1000.

We were both employees but now I am not as I am now a SAHM.

Yes the problem was with the vat as I understand it!the 10,000 was a vat Bill. Our old accountant told us we should register for vat.

Your tax bill sounds waaay off.
Is it a better idea to get jobs working for someone else for a while?
Self employment is a bitch if you are trying to stabilise yourself.

The VAT threshold for tax year 2014/15 was £81k and for the previous year was £79k. Your old accountant should have known that - I do not see why he/she told you to register ....

The VAT is not that hard to work out - you will have issued VAT invoices to customers which include (at today's rates) 20% on top of your fees. That money isn't yours and is set aside for VAT but it costs you nothing. If you register for VAT when you do not need to that is usually an advantage as you can claim back VAT on things you buy for the business and the extra 20% you get in is not a problem as you set it aside to pay the VAT man every quarter. £65k turnover will be if net of VAT about £13k a year VAT less what is spent on VATable items so £10k is not too far off if spread over several years.

Anyway assuming that was correct does your husband need to be an employee of the limited company? Plenty of those who own companies are not. They are just paid a dividend and pay less tax as a result. however the accountant may believe your husband has to be or is an employee. is your husband paid the minimum wage from the business and the company pays employers national insurance, any tax on your husband's wages and national insurance on the husband's salary? It may be possible for your husband not to be an employee and no national insurance be payable.

However the best way to buy a house is going to be trying to get some more of those very lucrative contracts into the business - so marketing, calling people, emails, anything that generates business in your business sector.

sorry op this doesn't make sense. You are including PAYE in the 30k yes? how many people do you employ?

From what I can gather your pre tax profit was 21K (forgetting the vat for a moment) and your tax was 20k?

VAT % can differ significantly depending on the type of goods / services sold and the country that the business was done in. As the OP says they are not really great on the financial side of things, it's probably best to let an accountant handle it. Although personally I would get them to break down the liability and get a second opinion on those figures.

No matter how I look at the figures and even counting you not charging VAT, I can't see £30k of tax from £65k - you need a proper breakdown and need to understand this. If you are capable of turning over £65k, you are capable of learning the tax basics, and this will stop it happening again.

It looks like her husband is the only employee now but she used to be too and presumably they were paid just above the £7300 or whatever it is national insurance ceiling if they were paying NI and perhaps they were paid more than the tax threshold too.

I agree with the comment above that there are some different VAT rates but in the UK where they probably trade most of us who charge VAT charge 20% as that is the UK VAT rates except for a few areas like fuel and their VAT invoices will set out what VAT was charged to customers so they can easily just flip through the invoices and see what VAT was charged to customers.

She might mean £65k turnover includes the VAT or not. If £65k plus VAT then that is £13k VAT a year as someone else said above so they could easily owe VAT particularly if it were over a good few years.

The secret is never to treat VAT as your money and you basically acting as an unpaid tax collector for the state in charging it and then paying most of it (after a few deductions for items you've bought on which VAT is charged) back to HMRC.