Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Chat

[Benny Smyth]

What BoJo has been saying is as clear as day, but apparently still too complicated for the morons and stubborn folk of the world.

We want you to stay at home. We want you to stay at home because we cannot deal with this crap right now and the NHS is already too busy. We want to kick the can down the road to a time where the NHS is less busy so we can deal with this properly. No, I don't want to enforce Marshall Law because some of you getting the virus is actually a good thing, as it will lessen the numbers that need treatment when we do decide to open the floodgates and it will also go a tiny way to the herd immunity. That doesn't mean continue with going to car parks at night and flashing your lights at other suspiciously parked cars in the area. Do a weekly shop, go to work then stay home. If you decide to continue playing kiss chase in the park, I'm going to have to lock you guys up which will pee you off and guess what? That's just going to prolong this process.

Has BoJo been spying on these here forums?

[Imagine]

Has BoJo been spying on these here forums?

Don't even go there.
Liz is now paranoid about the exercise thing. We're in a rural village, rarely see anyone else whilst out on our three daily walks.....but wear Apple watches (because we need to close those rings don't ya know). Will they be watching to see where you've been and how many times you've been out? (puts tin foil hat on)

On a more serious note I've just seen draft legislation for the self employed. I'm reading 80% of your Net earnings per month based on the past three year's tax returns or something like a max of £2,900 a month (whichever is the lowest). That's OK if you've been doing the self employed lark seriously for three years. I'm only 11 months into year one, with previous years not being taken as seriously in the way of actually making money.....so that's going to be a big fat £0 per month then.

Ever wanted to curl up in the corner and cry?

[Benny Smyth]

Don't even go there.
Liz is now paranoid about the exercise thing. We're in a rural village, rarely see anyone else whilst out on our three daily walks.....but wear Apple watches (because we need to close those rings don't ya know). Will they be watching to see where you've been and how many times you've been out? (puts tin foil hat on)

On a more serious note I've just seen draft legislation for the self employed. I'm reading 80% of your Net earnings per month based on the past three year's tax returns or something like a max of £2,900 a month (whichever is the lowest). That's OK if you've been doing the self employed lark seriously for three years. I'm only 11 months into year one, with previous years not being taken as seriously in the way of actually making money.....so that's going to be a big fat £0 per month then.

Ever wanted to curl up in the corner and cry?

Sole traders were always going to be the difficult child. How much does a sole trader earn? I dare say (bloody hope so!) that we earn more than Traci who lives two doors down and prints your kids faces onto mugs. Only way to determine that is tax returns which will either work out really well or really terrible.

For those of us with a savvy accountant who have been doing our yearly tax returns, said accountant may have unintentionally screwed us over in this unique and unpredictable scenario.

[Imagine]

For those of us with a savvy accountant who have been doing our yearly tax returns, said accountant may have unintentionally screwed us over in this unique and unpredictable scenario.

Yup

Until last April, I had a nice cushy full time job which I was made redundant from. The disco was always run as a business, but not to the extent that I wanted to be out every week to avoid burnout/spend time with the dear lady wife.
Then Liz had a seizure, and then another one. I chose my gigs carefully around when people were available to be on-hand should something go wrong whilst I was working. Yr 1 (2019/2020) was never going to be a bumper year and we knew that from the outset (even my accountant knew what was happening). We topped things up from savings.

2020 was supposed to be the year. Things have (touch wood) settled with Liz, the bookings were flying in....life was going to be rosy doing a job I love.

And now it's all gone.....

Sorry - off to a very dark and horrible place somewhere at the back of my brain again for a couple of days whilst I process everything that's happening at the moment (anxiety really isn't a nice condition to be living with at the moment, but I'll get there).

In other news - PETER.....the decorating's still on

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52011915

[Excalibur]

In other news - PETER.....the decorating's still on

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52011915

Never mind B&Q, if they close their sister operation, Screwfix, I'm done for.

Benny, yes I fear that our tax efficiency may bite us in the bum. Still, any help would be appreciated.

[DJ Jules]

The 80% net earnings thing works well for people with premises and/or sell goods who will see their rates and salaries covered and their costs heavily reduced because they're not buying stock. For anyone who works in the service industry it's better than nothing, but still not on a par with someone who is employed because a lot of our outgoings don't significantly reduce when we stop (advertising tends to be tied into yearly contracts, storage costs don't go away, vans and kit has to still be insured from theft/damage and lots of us work from home and rent/mortgage payments, heating/lighting/water/etc don't fully go away). Ok, we might be able to SORN vehicles (but not if they're our only vehicle) and we're not using fuel and unlikely to buy music, but that's about it.

I heard another great example today of someone who runs a small riding stable as a sole trader - you can't ask the horses to hibernate to keep costs down!

Julian

[cloudswiper]

Nothing better to do so thought I'd have a crack at yoga.

Wife's mat had the positions rated by difficulty 1 to 28.
Thought I would head straight for 28.

Turns out I'm a natural.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

That's the reschedules picking up now.

Managed to move 3 of them and not move 1 though I did pass them in the direction of my brother.

I'm keeping my booking fees - not had that conversation yet but I'm sure it will come.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

I'm that bored that I'm doing the PAT a whole month early! I'm 180 items in out of about 500 and I lost the will to live already.

I don't expect to see a dirty fan, any broken lights or out of date documents when we all pick up again

[rth_discos]

I'm that bored that I'm doing the PAT a whole month early! I'm 180 items in out of about 500 and I lost the will to live already.

I don't expect to see a dirty fan, any broken lights or out of date documents when we all pick up again

Actually, this is a valid point you've inadvertently raised.

MOTs have been extended for 6 months. Wonder if any provision is due for PAT testing for example (it's unlikely I'll be able to get mine done in timescale), and it'll be hard to predict when to book in an alternative date!