There are a few questions that come up time and time again – so we’ve created some resources specially to answer them. If you’ve got questions we haven’t answered yet, drop us a line on memberships@journoresources.org.uk and we’ll look into creating more resources!
Freelance Questions
I’ve Gone Freelance For The First Time – How Should I Organise My Records?
The main thing to do is make sure you keep a record of every payment you receive and everything you spend for the business. We recommend setting up separate business account, even if you’re not a limited company. We use Starling Bank, who’ll set you an account in minutes, and allow you upload receipts as soon as you make a spend through their smartphone app.
We also keep records in a Google Drive (or you can use Dropbox etc) folder of all our invoices, receipts and remittance notices.
To help you get started, we’ve created an invoice template you can use for clients here – just download a copy and edit it to suit your needs. You can also see our template for keeping track of monthly income here – again, you’ll need to save a copy to your own computer so you can use it.
Help, I Need To File My Tax Return And I Don’t Know What To Do!
Luckily for you, we’ve put a whole webinar together on this, with the help of our friends at Mazuma Money. Take a look at this, which should give you a broad run through of everything you need to know. Their blog post might also help.
We also have some free additional resources from them all about how to calculate your use as home allowance as as a sole trader and as a director of a limited company, and the up-coming ‘making tax digital’ rollout.
If you’re stuck though, we’d very much advise getting in touch with an accountant. If you get in touch with Mazuma and use the code JR2021 when asking for a quote they’ll give you a generous discount.