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And you can fiddle the books
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Help Support The Rugby Forum :
A Political Thread pt. 2
- Thread starter ncurd
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Cash is tax free....And you can fiddle the books
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You don’t know who is reading these forums.
I never said that's what I did. Just a rumour I heard...You don't know who is reading these forums.
BBC staff to 'step back' from duties over Glastonbury Bob Vylan row
No "high risk" music acts will be broadcast live in the future after Bob Vylan's Glastonbury set.
www.bbc.co.uk
I just don't get this. A pair of publicity hungry "artists" start a chant during a live show and the people at the BBC are getting hammered for it?
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I understand, I was kind of self employed many years ago (when I was doing my masters and a certain time later), but it's a bit inconvenient for me: not a stable income, no job "security" as you said and no some additional benefits (as for example I took mortgage in another branch of the place where I work,but it was a very good mortgage offer for employees only etc). Also it depends very much on your private life I think. I couldn't afford to be self employed when I was alone, now the situation is opposite (but still prefer to have some money independence at this moment)
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I don’t how the tax system works where you are, but here self employed have a big liability in January - basically their balancing tax for the tax year and then half up front for the current tax year. Then another half again in July. Got to be disciplined with cash flow and having enough to pay HMRC on time otherwise it’s interest on top of the tax.
If you’ve got loads of other overheads on top of that it basically leaves you with nothing. Loads of small businesses are struggling or folded and then well They can end up fiddling the books and get into trouble with HMRC. They aren’t stupid, especially with cash businesses and the VAT people can be particularly vicious and can attend the business properties to go through their books.
As self employed - you are the business and if a customer doesn’t pay then it hits you in the pocket and so on, so on. A lot also want the prestige of setting up a company instead. But that comes with its own headaches.
I actually earned more money last year than at any other point in my life (much to the delight of the British tax man) but yeah get it. In a previous relationship I absolutely wouldn't have taken the chance on being self employed. It was just too risky.
You see touch wood I've always been ok with the self employed tax. I am very disciplined with it but it's pretty straightforward and when I have had to contact HMRC once you get through they are fine. I do sit just below the VAT threshold so I think that helps. I have a mate who's vat registered and he lies awake at night thinking about all the nasty things the Vat man will do to him!
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A lot of small businesses like plumbers just make sure they keep under the threshold by taking “holidays” during the tax year so they don’t breach the VAT threshold and not having to wack their prices up by 20%. The system is gamed and doesn’t lead to any growth that this Govt. Is so desperate for.
Yeah I just don't earn that much
What I will say is growth isnt the responsibility of an individual tradesman. Tradesman earn money, the provide a service and tend to spend that money and pay more tax in percentage terms than many millionaires. Growth isn't their problem to fix and I'm not just saying that because I'm a tradesman of sorts either
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Yeh individually absolutely not their problem. Every business is there for a “view to a profit”. Just saying the tax system doesn’t help and VAT is a big earner for the Treasury. I think UK has one of the highest thresholds for VAT, much higher than in rest of Europe.
If you have a van and buy lots of parts and materials then it makes sense to be VAT registered. I make do with an estate car and my customers provide materials etc from their accounts so I only really need to pay for Tools, fuel and accommodation so it's currently pointless for me.
On a side note in a previous pre self employed world I was a Transport manager and many of the self employed drivers I dealt with were all VAT registered. Personally I think it was their accountants telling them they needed something they didn't actually need. I did try and explain this to a few of them but then the rules changed regarding HGV drivers and by that point I had left the industry
Been self-employed for my entire career.
I'd love the VAT threshold to be a consideration - if I was earning enough to remotely approach it, I'd be thinking I was working too hard, and take a holiday as well.
I'd love the VAT threshold to be a consideration - if I was earning enough to remotely approach it, I'd be thinking I was working too hard, and take a holiday as well.
Amen brother!
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That is weird for them to be individually VAT registered unless they have have loads of input VAT to offset. Were they also advised to set themselves up as companies ?
Yes they were. It stank. They were mostly Eastern European and Iraqi lads. Great blokes all of them and I offered a number of the full time employment but they obviously had this mindset that being a company, being VAT registered was were it was at. It's all over now with the change to drivers but it was a very dodgy time and I'm sure there were a number of accountants making money out of the situation
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100%
Hypothetically, if was one of those lads for a short while, about 14 years ago...
The game was, set up Ltd, charge VAT on your invoice, and pay the flat rate to VATman.
Kerching.
Accountants back then were basically driver unions lol, even after fees these drivers were potentially taking home 15% more than their counterparts, and 35% more then employed drivers, I heard on the grape vine anyway.
EDIT: this hypothetical may have been 18 years ago, I would feel really old right now if this was a real story!
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Yeh was thinking whether there were also
IR35 issues and they really were employees but for the company and should have been under PAYE. But if they were only here for a certain parts of the year they were not ordinarily resident here so no NIC. Your company also wouldn’t want to pay employer’s NIC, and so another way to reduce costs and put all the tax admin on those drivers.
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