Self employed advice

[HoHoHoliday]

I became self employed in the last few months, unexpectedly! And I don't know what I'm doing with it.
I got offered an amazing job on a fixed contract, paying a day rate, and was told to register myself as a limited company so that I could invoice. Now I'm being paid great money, but have no idea how to manage my "company" (which is just me).
First question - I'm paid into a business bank account that I opened then paying myself (transferring an amount to my own personal bank account). It asks me to specify what payment this is. Should I call it salary, or dividends, or something else?
Second question - I've been invoicing for the number of days I've worked. Should I add vat to this?
Third question - can anyone direct me to online information where I can learn what the hell I'm supposed to know about all of this?

Hi, thanks for answering. What do you mean about evading what I should be paying? From what little info I have been able to find and understand I would not need to be paying anything (e.g. tax) until next year?

It isn't very complicated but you will need a proper accountant to walk you through it all. You will make mistakes if you do not.

So, get in touch with one and get yourself properly registered.

https://www.gov.uk/working-for-yourself

You may not even be legally self employed
Take urgent accountancy advice

Why did you have to be a limited company

I'm self employed and work for various people as a maternity nurse so short term contracts

A good accountant will save you more in costs then their fee.
The Institute of Directors, www.iod.com, is worth considering for advice on roles, responsibilities, etc.
Best of luck, you have the best but hardest boss in the world to work for!

Yes. I’d say you need an accountant to sort you out, maybe just for the first year or two. They can also help you with what they can claim against the business so may save you more than they cost.

as for vat…are you vat registered? Do you have to buy vat-rated good or services as part of running your business? If not then they’re is no point in being vat registered. In which case then you should most certainly not be charging vat.

You need an accountant.

Ltd company setups are a lot more complicated than sole traders. There are filing deadlines and different tax rates for corporation tax/dividends. You shouldn't pull money out whenever you want. Get an accountant to talk you through a tax-optimized salary/dividends setup. VAT will only come into the picture once you cross the threshold (£85k/year).

Get onto an accountant ASAP.

You ARE NOT self employed.
You are providing services through a limited company of which you are presumably the director and shareholder.
You ABSOLUTELY need to take professional advice on this situation and how to comply with the law and best limit your tax liabilities.
Please do so sooner rather than later.

Your filing dates/end of financial year will depend on your company incorporation date.

But as you are a limited company, you must pay corporation tax on the first pound you have earned.

Please take professional advice from an accountant.

Why not a sole trader rather than a limited company?

You do not need to panic. You have time to correct things that may have been done wrongly, account for things properly and still pay the government their share.
Take a deep breath, the UK government website is a good place to start but more importantly is a good accountant as they will save you loads of money by properly allocating (tax through acceptable write-offs, allocation of expenses, purchases, when to finance when to expense, etc).

Get an accountant ASAP (I'm an accountant). Depending on income levels you may have caused yourself a headache setting up as a LTD Co when you could have just stayed self employed as a sole trader.

There are so many nuances and obligations it's not worth getting into over here. Just go to an accountant and get it sorted ASAP. VAT the turnover threshold is circa £80k so if you're going to go over that in a year then yes you need to charge VAT but until you're registered with VAT you can't call it VAT on your invoices. Again, speak to an accountant.

Because if the engaging business engages a sole trader into a position which is effectively an employment position then the risks and liabilities of the engagement (ie the tax they should be deduction under PAYE) lie with the engaging business.

If they insist on engaging a limited company then (assuming the engaging business is small enough) the risks are transferred to the company (IR35) and aren't the problem of the engaging business.

Yes, just get yourself an accountant.

Don’t worry about having missed any deadlines-you will have quite a long time after each year end to get your accounts in, but the sooner you get professional advice the better you will be able to run things.

The VAT threshold is £85,000 of VATable sales (in any rolling 12 month period) so unless you are over that threshold your do not need to register. If you are not VAT registered, do not add VAT to your invoices. Find an accountant who can advise you about VAT as well, if you think you are anywhere near this threshold.

Get an accountant, yesterday.
Mine charges £100 a month as standard

I agree with the advice to get an accountant asap. You could be in difficulties with IR35.

Another post to say I’m an accountant and you need an accountant.

Most chartered accountants will be equipped to deal with this.

Glad I asked, but also now very worried!

The question about why a limited company not a sole trader - because of how the company I am working with wanted to employ me. The wanted some consultants on a project for a short fixed term.
This all happened so quickly which is how I've ended up not having a clue what to do. I got offered the contract via a recruitment agency. I was told to register my limited company with gov.uk and take out business insurance. Then I send an invoice at the end of each month, and it's only a 6-month contract. Suddenly a few months have already passed and I'm still clueless about what else to do.
Thanks for all of the suggestions about getting an accountant. I guess for convenience and to ease my worries I'll do that now to get it sorted. But I'm hoping also to learn what to do with this all myself as I'm hoping to continue on to another contract after this one.

Don't worry, but do get advice.
There will be things you can do yourself and a decent accountant will assist you with setting these up.
I'd still recommend using an accountant for the year end accounts, tax, and overall tax planning even if you get on top of the day to day stuff - not least because corporation tax returns have to be e-filed and accompanied by html tagged accounts - and you are unlikely to have the software to do either. Never mind the additional value decent advice is worth.