Self Employed Tax/Self Assessment. Advice from those with experience

[MaternityNanny31]

Dear all.

I have been a nanny for over 5 years, always employed.

Last year I trained as a Maternity Nurse and as of January 2013 became Self Employed. I registered back in December 2012 as Self Employed with HMRC and got my UTR.

Can you tell me as the tax year runs from April-April, how does this work for me in my first year.. and also as its my first ever self assessment return any tips.

I just went to register for the form I thought I needed to be completed by January 31st 2014 but then got confused. I am not home so do not have my UTR with me, so will need to get that sorted when back home this w/e

Many thanks

I am up to date with NIC payments, and have all my receipts, invoices etc..

So the period you need to file online by 31st January 2014 is from December 2012- April 5th 2013. Then next January will be April 2013-April 2014 and so on...

You will file online that you were employed April 2012-dec 2012 and whatever you earned gross

Then what you earned as se dec 2012 to April 2013

Take off tax allowance and expenses and what is left you will be taxed 20% ish on

You may get a tax rebate for that year as would has been paying tax for 8mths at full rate

Then this year /next April 2013-April 2014 and do the same. What you earnt. Minus expenses and tax allowance

Biggest tip I can give to a new MN is to put a 1/3 of all income earned aside in a separate account - this is what you'll need to pay tax with and its much easier to keep it in place where you're not tempted to spend it. I always have double my estimated tax put asides in case I can't work for any reason.