Self employed taxes in the UK – what records do you need to keep?

Let’s have a little chat about self employed taxes and record keeping in the UK. As a self employed person, you must keep records to back up the information you put on your self assessment tax returns. You can keep paper records, electronic records (e.g. in a spreadsheet) or you can use software. So what sort of information do you need to keep track of?

UK small business tax rates 2022/23 – at a glance!

There’s good news and bad news. Income tax rates generally aren’t increasing. However as inflation steadily rises tax breaks such as your Personal Allowance are now locked in until 2026. Coupled with forthcoming rises in national insurance, corporation tax and dividend rates the net impact for small business owners is a substantial and quite sneaky tax increase over the next few years.

Surviving a Tax Audit in the UK – What did HMRC ask for?

There are few things in life more stressful than a tax audit. Just when you think you’re on top of things that little brown envelope comes through the post and inside is an ominous looking letter. Not printer on the usual white paper but instead on a scary looking grey paper. At the top of the letter is says “Check of Self Assessment tax return for the year ended 5 April 2013” (in my case) and it’s accompanied by a leaflet “General information about compliance checks”. You’re being audited by HMRC and it’s time to put your record keeping to the test.