"Getting Started" Guides

It can be very daunting when you decide to start your own business.

You will be confident in your own knowledge and ability to make your business succeed, but many people wonder where to start regarding keeping records, who to contact, paying taxes, etc.

This information is designed to ease your worries by providing you with this essential knowledge.

The Guides

Click on the links below to view each subject on the right hand side.

Once you're under way, you can think about the type of help you may require from us. Please browse through our list of services on the tab above for more information and email us for a quote.

Self-Assessment Payments on Account

When your personal annual Tax and National Insurance liability is over £1,000, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will require you to make payments to them twice a year - by 31st January and 31st July. This has the benefit of spreading your total annual liability over two payments, six months apart.

However, HMRC call them 'Payments on Account' because they are made in advance, based on your liability in the previous tax year.

The Tax and National Insurance payable to HMRC following your first tax year of trading will be payable in one lump sum, by 31st January following the end of the tax year. If Payments on Account are required, they will start from then. This can result in you paying one-and-a-half times your initial tax bill; being the actual tax bill plus half-as-much again towards your next year's tax bill; then 6-monthly instalments from then on.

Payments on Account are compulsory, unless your annual Tax and National Insurance liability is less than £1,000. They will start after your first year of owing over £1,000 to HMRC, so a very small business may never need to make these payments on account.