Course for the Newly Self-Employed?

[SteveBuscemisRheumyEye]

Hello! I have recently become self-employed/ gone freelance.

Is there such a thing as a course on how to manage finances? I'm kind of just going from invoice to invoice, and I know I need to have some kind of system...

What do you need to know? How big a self employed business?
There's lots of videos on YouTube (often done by accountants) so you could (kind of) make your own course.

Have you got a finance system like xero? Do you have /need an accountant

From 2024 tax goes digital. You will need software to report your tax every quarter. You may need an accountant if your not tech savvy. If you have a business account with nat west then you get free software.

Hmm, good questions! I am pretty tech savvy but I'm worried that maybe there's things I ought to know but don't?

I have an accountant as I've done some freelance work for a couple of years and have filed tax returns twice.

I used to work part time for the NHS, and I think I'm worried about missing my guaranteed monthly income. I want to get myself into a position where I have a better handle on what's coming in, when.

I started out with just an Excel spreadsheet tracking business income and outgoings. I'm now using Quickbooks (probably quite badly) as it's compatible with MTD.

You may find courses on starting out in self-employment being run by your local Chamber. HMRC has a lot of advice on their website on business record keeping.

The important thing is to hold back cash in your account for your January tax return and the three HMRC payment dates (Jan 31 for first payment on account, Jul 31 for the second payment on account, Jan 31 for the balancing payment - and your 1st payment on account for the next tax year).

For example, I've just realised that I don't have a record of when invoices should be paid...should probably do that, shouldn't I?!

Book-keeping software (Quickbooks, Freeagent, Xero, etc) will do that for you. They include a kind of "database" that tracks invoices, payments, due dates, and creates automatic statements to email/post to clients. You create your invoice within the software (rather than word and excel) and everything else leads on from that.

Freeagent (Free with NatWest/Mettle business account) also includes projections/estimates of taxes due and payment dates, and is aimed at freelancers and similar "knowledge" based businesses.

Get yourself an accounting software package and let this handle invoicing and reminding you of due dates.

And as a tip to a newly self-employed person, be aware of IR35. Particularly if you're working for large corporates or public sector organisations (such as the NHS).

I'd definitely get yourself an accounting software package. It's worth in the time it save you.