If you are a Contractor who trades through a Limited Company you must be aware of the IR35 rules as this could affect your tax efficiency and prevent you from taking dividends, our IR35 guide explains the background to IR35 and how it can affect you. This guide can be used to help you determine how compliant your contractual agreement is. This is intended for guidance purposes only and should not be used in place of a professional contract assessment. IR35 Rules: IR35 was int

The main rule is “an allowable expense should be wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the performance of your day to day business.” Any direct expense incurred running your business should be claimed, there are some expenses that you might think meet the criteria but are unfortunately not allowable, such as entertainment and professional attire. However, if you are operating as a limited company you can pay for these expenses through the business, but they will be

This advice is for Sole Traders not Limited Companies. This guide does not cover every type of business expense, just the ones that we are asked about most often. Home office costs These days a lot of self employed freelancers work from home so it is important to ensure a sufficient “Use of Home as Office” cost is put against your tax return. There are two options: 1 – Simplified HMRC rate This is a nice, easy and straightforward option but you might not save as much as you d

Making the decision as to which structure your business operates as can be crucial, whether that be in terms of tax savings, perception to the outside world, keeping things simple or future plans you may have. Sole Trader Tax As a sole trader an individual must pay tax on all profits over and above their personal allowance, for most tax payers the personal allowance is £11,500 for the 2017/18 tax year. Once the personal allowance has been breached tax is paid at the rate of 2