Tax

[jeremy knight]

Hi Everyone
When you do discos for people, how do you receive your money, cash or cheques?
Do you do it because you are self-employed do it for business or just a hobby?
Because I ask these questions because of inland revenue finding out what you are doing. It is like the big brother watching you everything you do.
What I do is ask for cash only, but paying for deposit I receive cheques by post and put it in the bank.
Other thing is, if you are doing the discos or a DJ as a hobby,
you still have to a record anything about money, and I do not want to get finding out from the taxman.I would like to build up my mobile disco as a business, and I have lots of bookings, but what is the best thing for me as everyone else in the business.
I have read some of your comments and it is difficult. Thank you.
From Jeremy Knight
DJ Jez,Disco and Entertainment

[Marc J]

If you're considering not declaring any / some of your earnings, the first thing I would do is remove your full address from your profile....you never know, the taxman might read these forums

EDIT: Forgot to say, honesty is always the best policy, you sleep better at night (or during the day, in a DJ's case)

[Danno13]

Well you need to register with the inland revenue as a business.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ctsa/regnewbusiness.htm

And probably a good idea to speak to an accountant, who will help you claim for the right things to reduce your profit.

I'm not sure what you mean about the big brother comments.. IR are there to stop people cheating the system.. you shouldn't really be trying to hide your extra income from them. And if you do, its probably not a good idea to have your whole address in your profile!!!

[Dragonfly]

get an accountant best thing i ever did takes all the stress out of tax and also you find out exactly what you can and cant claim for ... something that the taxman doesnt like to tell you about.....

[Tony Scott]

What's "Income Tax?" Is it one of these new EMO Bands or summit?

[rob1963]

Hi Everyone
When you do discos for people, how do you receive your money, cash or cheques?
Do you do it because you are self-employed do it for business or just a hobby?
Because I ask these questions because of inland revenue finding out what you are doing. It is like the big brother watching you everything you do.
What I do is ask for cash only, but paying for deposit I receive cheques by post and put it in the bank.
Other thing is, if you are doing the discos or a DJ as a hobby,
you still have to a record anything about money, and I do not want to get finding out from the taxman.I would like to build up my mobile disco as a business, and I have lots of bookings, but what is the best thing for me as everyone else in the business.
I have read some of your comments and it is difficult. Thank you.
From Jeremy Knight
DJ Jez,Disco and Entertainment

Hi Jeremy,

I think you'd be mad not to register your business with the inland revenue & start paying tax on your earnings. All those deposit cheques you pay into your account can be traced. When I worked in a bank, I sometimes had to dig out all the credits to some people's accounts when they were being investigated by the inland revenue.

An ex-colleague of mine knew someone who started doing discos without telling the inland revenue. They got found out after about 10 years. They had to pay all the back tax, a penalty for not declaring their business to the inland revenue and also interest on all the unpaid tax. Basically it crippled them & they had to sell their house to pay the money owed.

I couldn't sleep at night if I knew I was not paying tax or not paying enough tax.

If you find out what expenses you can claim for, and depending on what you earn, I wouldn't say an accountant is essential. I don't use one, although I worked in a bank for 24 years, so I'm pretty good with finance & figures.

I don't even claim for everything I could do, as I don't bother keeping invoices or recording expenses for anything that costs less than £2 - £3, and I've never claimed a clothing allowance, but I'd rather pay a bit too much tax than not enough!

Also, if you earn no more than £15,000 you should easily be able to complete your tax return yourself. You only have to fill in 4 simple figures: Turnover, business expenses, capital allowances & net profit...and (depending on your other tax liabilities) you can probably get away with using one of the "short" tax returns like I do - it's only 4 pages long!

Hope this helps.

[DMX Will]

This is something I need to seriously consider. It's never really crossed my mind, as before I was "just a kid" but things are considerably more serious now.

I want to do something pretty pronto as our Ad in the new ed of the local Y-Pages was out on Friday. I don't think I'll need an accountant, as I've got a father who's very "up on all that" (without trying to sound like B-Boy!! - lol).

As, potentially I've been making money since I was 10, whats my best route forward, state this and hope they lean the £100 penalty for not registering, or just say i'm a new bussiness....

[Dragonfly]

all good advice register its a must speak to an accountant honestly you will be amazed what can come under your business and it doesnt cost the earth as i expected 1 gig easily covers mine and its sooooo worth it.