As a Sole Trader, you’ll find there are many accounting firms out there that don’t and won’t provide a service for you. Often when you do find a firm that will, it’s a once-a-year interaction that doesn’t feel wholly supportive for your year round needs.
At the start of 2019, official government statistics reported that there were 3.5 million Sole Traders in the UK private sector.You guys make up 59% of the total of all legal forms of business!
Just because there are legal differences between being a Sole Trader and a Limited Company does not mean your work is of less value, or that you have to go it alone in the business world.
At Tyrrell & Co, we do serve Sole Traders (proudly!) – and we want to make sure you’re getting access to the same level of support and encouragement all business owners are getting.
Like all business owners, you don’t want to be stuck doing the financial stuff
We appreciate that our Sole Trader clients don’t necessarily need a ‘bells and whistles’ service. You don’t need all the things and so we’d never try and sell you all the things.
At the moment, you just want to know how to follow HMRC’s rules, and how much tax you need to pay.
Because though you’re not needing to deal with payroll yet, or navigate corporation tax, you are having to:
- Keep records of your business’s sales and expenses
- Send a Self Assessment tax return every year
- Pay Income Tax on your profits and Class 2 and 4 National insurance
You may also need to:
- Register for VAT if your turnover is over £85,000 (though you can register voluntarily below this threshold if you sell to other VAT-registered businesses and want to claim the VAT back).
- Register with HMRC for the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) if you’re working in the construction industry as a subcontractor or contractor.
Taking care of these financial obligations can be time consuming for anyone – no matter how efficient and productive you are!
Because the reality is, the more time you’re having to spend sorting receipts, manually inputting your expenses, and googling for answers to your self assessment questions, the less time you get to do your thing – be creative, build better relationships with clients, generate more products, find new leads.
There are really seamless ways to keep track of your business nowadays – one of these ways is Xero. If you do anything today, at least commit to exploring Xero and digital accounting (if you haven’t already).
All this stuff can be ticking away in the background whilst you’re generating more business for yourself.
We see you, and we see your potential
We love our work with Sole Traders. In our experience, we know you mostly want:
- A genuinely nice team to deal with!
- Tax and accounting expertise you can rely on.
- A fast response time and speedy turnaround. Not just with your accounts, but for other requests too (like mortgage references).
- Someone always available at the end of the phone.
Not too much to ask for, right? We see you, and we hear you on that. But we also want you to know we’re thinking forward too. You may not always be a Sole Trader. You might want to grow your business down the line and take on employees. You may wish to separate yourself legally from your business to protect it. As you grow, you may find it’s more tax friendly to become a Limited Company.
You might already be looking for advice and resources on how to be more efficient in running a business as a Sole Trader. What to do about a retirement plan, how to plan out your taxes proactively so you’re covered all year round, how to reach the next milestone.
These decisions may not be for right now. But it’s helpful to know you have someone to talk when you’re thinking about it. We’re always encouraging our clients to plan for their future, and have their goals in mind.
What’s your next milestone? And how can we help you get there?