what is tax deductable?

[paulhutchens]

Hi,

I have been doing mobile discos for a year now and have been paying national insurance every couple of months when I get the bill through. However, come April I will need to pay tax on my earnings of around �6k for the year (this is not including my full time employment), what items would be tax deductable as far as this business is concerned? Also is there a way to sort this without paying the enormous accountant fees?

[andy-hughes]

If you don't want to pay an accountant, the simple thing to do is to throw in everything thsat is even remotely connected to your disco earnings, and claim for it. That means obvious things like albums and singles - wack in a hefty amount - they may ask for receipts, but it's worth a go. Claim a clothing allowance, music papers and magazines, if you don;t have a roadie, invent one, and pay him. Storage for your gear - and these are just the few i can think of, so add to them and bung in everything you can think of.

Don't get silly with it, and they'll be more inclined to let you claim some of these as deducatable, if not, they'll refuse, but it's always worth a try.

[stanleyman]

You will need to keep all your receipts in case they are asked for, and they will one day! This includes transport costs, telephone, materials etc. Get an accounting book or better still a computer accounts system such as Quik Books (deductable) to enter income and outgoings. You will probably find that you are not actually earning as much as you think you are due to all these deductable costs.

You don't have to have an accountant for a simple small business and if you get a self assessment form the total figures can simply be entered on that after you have accounted for everything yourself. Get into the habit of keeping receipts for everthing that might be deductable.