BUSINESS WE HELP - SOLE TRADERS
Accounting and Tax Services for Sole Traders
Major Challenge for Sole Traders
With stringency in the laws, the burden over the Sole Traders has also increased quite a lot. There are very hard challenges faced by them for compliance of accounting and taxation laws amidst of carrying out their business operations. It takes lot of time for them to comply with regulations which would rather be allocated to important business practices. Hence, this whole system of compliance needs some automation to save time and effort.
Also, majority of the Sole Traders are not well versed with accounting and tax structures hence need some professionals who can handle their compliances.
How Tax Care Can Help?
We have derived automated cloud base solution by integrating finance, accounts, payroll and tax into one system. Tax Care will care for all your accounting and tax compliances at the same time you will be making your business decisions.
This would reduce a lot of time and effort for Sole Traders to focus on important business practices and solutions. We provide the best and cheapest Personal tax and Sole Trader package starting at only £29.95 per month.
Who are Sole Traders?
Sole Traders are individuals who operate their business solely with no separate legal identity between business and the business owner. This means, if business is not able to meet its obligation than personal pocket of the sole traders would be utilized to pay them.
Benefits of Sole Trading
- No sharing of Profit
- No additional compliance burdens
- No separate tax returns are submitted for business as it belongs to Sole Trader itself. Hence sole trader’s return and business return are same.
- No need to submit financial statements to Companies House as you are not operating a Company.
However, while enjoying above benefits, Sole Trader still needs to maintain the records of all Income and Expenses in a HMRC approved format. Working with us, you don’t need to worry about maintaining these records as we will take care of all such accounts maintenance digitally and reduce paperwork.
Registering Sole Trader with HMRC?
Every business has once started its grow day be day and when its size increases it will generate more revenue that will lead to have more taxes as well. Hence each business needs to get registered with tax authorities as self-assessment, so they can collect taxes from you.
Self-assessment means you will be assessing your tax bill based on profitability of your business and submit the tax return along with paying the assessed tax. If you default in registration that there may be heavy fines. HMRC is the tax authority with which you need to register your business.
However, HMRC allows Sole Traders to earn income up to £1,000 without registration and paying any taxes. Thus, a Sole Trader may consider not to register with HMRC until his or her income reaches £1,000. However, it is advisable to register as Sole Trader with HMRC at the start of business which will benefit you. In case your business incurs losses in initial stages, then you can use these losses to set off against future income if your business is registered with HMRC. Otherwise, you wouldn’t get benefit of initial losses.
As and when income goes over £1,000 during a tax year, you must register with HMRC by 5th October of the year following the tax year (which is April 6th to April 5th) in which income exceeds £1,000.
When to Register as Sole Trader
To register as a sole trader with HMRC, you must follow the below steps:
- Set up HMRC government gateway account by visiting HMRC portal
- Enrol for self-assessment online by filling out the HMRC application form
- Wait for your UTR number. The UTR is a reference number issued to anyone in the UK who needs to complete a self-tax assessment. If you submit tax returns to HMRC, you’re required to need UTR number.
- Wait for your activation code so that you can complete registration of your HMRC online account.
You will need to register for VAT also when your turnover goes over £85,000. However, it is advisable to register for VAT at the beginning itself.
Your Responsibilities as a Sole Trader
As a Sole Trader, you will need to:
- Keep records of your business’s income and expenses
- Submit a tax return to HMRC each year
- Pay Income tax on your profits