I think I am totally losing the plot and/or the will to live.
I have been planning and preparing to become a self employed bookkeeper. The services I am wanting to offer initially are. Updating/completing books. I also want to do VAT returns and Self Assesments(straight forward ones for subbies on building sites etc).
I understand I have to register with HMRC as self-employed and have done so this week.
I also am aware that I need Professional Indemnity Insurance for which I have been looking around and obtaining quotes.
I also know I have to cover myself against Anti Money Laundering.
What else do I need to do to be a legal bookkeeper?
Do I need a licence? I am going to be working from my own home or clients premises.
I have a friend who is a bookkeeper and it seems she is trying to put me off by saying I cannot do any tax work unless I have a practice licence.
Can someone clear all this up for me. I should have work from my first client next week and need to make sure I am doing everything by the book.
You are right, you need to register with HMRC as self employed. You need to do this straight away, you no longer get 3 months to register. If you are a member of a professional body you may need a practice license but this should cover you in terms of the money laundering regs. Failing this, you will need to register with HMRC for this and pay whatever they charge, I think it was £110 the last time I looked but don't take my word for it.
PII is highly recommended in our field.
If you are a member of a professional body your friend may be right, but if not there is nothing to stop you doing VAT and Self Assessment work. I would advise you only to take on such work if you are qualified and confident in your ability to carry it out. Your insurance company may limit the type of work they will cover you for.
I am currently a CIMA student but am probably going to let that lapse this time as I am getting no study support to enable me to continue nor any on the job support/training.
I registered with HMRC earlier this week so that is sorted.
I do VAT returns at work or at least the prep work and then my boss checks it over and submits. He rarely has to correct anything that I have done even though we appear to have issues with it every month from and EC sales point of view. Its just reports not picking up the right figures but I have identified this and made adjustments to reflect the correct figures. This isn't something I want to get involved with outside of work. I just want to do straight forward returns with minimal adjustments. I am going to read up on Self assessments. I do my nephews at the moment and that is very basic but need to learn how to deal with other situations. Just PI and money laundering to sort now and I am legal and ready to go.
I am currently not a member of any professional body so all you need to have in place is the following
1. Register with HMRC for self employment
2. Register with HMRC for Money Laundering - costs £110
3. Get PII in place.
Other than that you can offer whatever services you feel you are capable of offering.
As you can see from my website I offer all the services you would expect from an accountant (with exception of audit) though having worked with accounting practices for over 15 years have a bit of experience to back up what I am offering.
Thanks for your input on that. I feel much more clear and confident now about going out and getting work that I feel I can do. I've had an email this afternoon from the accountant. His client is using Sage instant and has input Sales invoices no problem but has messed up putting on purchase invoices so reverted back to putting them into a spreadsheet. No cash payments in or out have been posted to allocate invoices off. It's my job to liaise with the client about reversing off incorrect invoices, putting them back on correctly then putting on the ones that have been recorded on spreadsheet. I have to reconcile Debtors and Creditors then look at the VAT and reconcile back to manual return.
Bit messy for my first job but I suppose if i can sort this out then hopefully everything after this should be a breeze.
I have to work out how long all this is going to take me and then the job will be priced up. If the client agrees then this client could be handed over to me directly for the bookkeeping, VAT etc and then the books handed over to accountant to do the rest.
I'm looking forward to it but also a bit nervous as it's my first client when I am used to being in industry with back up all around me.
