Invoicing

[seco services]

plus i always make sure the terms & conditions are on the rear of invoices.

and my 24 call out paperwork they sign when i get there that they agree the hourly rate & conditions they was told on the phone

 

[namsag]

I must work for some really strange people . I kid you not everything i do is from word of mouth and me and guy i work with know thousands of people in the town we live pop around 550000 . And very very few ask for invoices/receipts
But it is purely a case of how much is it ,average job is 3k and above and people say how do you want paid cash or cheque .
We say what ever is easiest and pensioners we say cheque dont have that sort of money in the house.
Never take a penny till job is complete. But still get paid at least 95% of time in cash . in past two weeks we have made 3k each and taken around around 11k and 8k of that was cash with a discusion to say a cheque is fine.
It is so easy not to be vat registersted working it with between 2 and even if you get close customers would not think twice of making cheque payable to suppliers

Simple anything you buy you want hidden its a cash ticket no name etc not on your account and thats it.
But as for books it is XYZ address with however much we have charged next to that address then on opposite page how much plumbcentre or PTS have charged us that month taken away dead simple and never any hassle from tax man how this is done.
Probably takes accountant an hour or two max to do our books as it all there

 

[WoodYouLike]

not quite.

if youre a limited company you need the following:-

the full company name as it appears on the certificate of incorporation

any business name used in your business

an address where any legal documents can be delivered to you if you are using a business name

And don't forget to put all that info on emails too! The easiest way to do that is adding it to your standard signature that automagically goes out with every email you mail out.

 

[tonybhoy]

I must work for some really strange people . I kid you not everything i do is from word of mouth and me and guy i work with know thousands of people in the town we live pop around 550000 . And very very few ask for invoices/receipts
But it is purely a case of how much is it ,average job is 3k and above and people say how do you want paid cash or cheque .
We say what ever is easiest and pensioners we say cheque dont have that sort of money in the house.
Never take a penny till job is complete. But still get paid at least 95% of time in cash . in past two weeks we have made 3k each and taken around around 11k and 8k of that was cash with a discusion to say a cheque is fine.
It is so easy not to be vat registersted working it with between 2 and even if you get close customers would not think twice of making cheque payable to suppliers

Simple anything you buy you want hidden its a cash ticket no name etc not on your account and thats it.
But as for books it is XYZ address with however much we have charged next to that address then on opposite page how much plumbcentre or PTS have charged us that month taken away dead simple and never any hassle from tax man how this is done.
Probably takes accountant an hour or two max to do our books as it all there

Whatever works for you is what works for you.

The tax investigation I had was probably the worst thing I've ever encountered in my life outside of family problems,death and illness etc and at the end of the day what the got me for was beer money however the point is once they are on your case you have no chance no matter how good you may think you are at 'hiding stuff'.

End of the day your lifestyle is what shops you that and some dodgy customer you've had a falling out with or some jealous neighbour.

Personally,I trust no one not even my accountant or solicitor.

The only people I trust are my wife and kids.

Cheers.

Tony.

 

[namsag]

Yep agree with you there tonyboy about lifestyle..
Other than holidays or ordering parts over phone everything i pay for is cash the secret is leave no trail that they can follow and treat every fiddle you do as the one they can catch you. Anything big it comes out the wifes account so that it can be traced.
Always allow and pay about 25% of van mileage for private use

Never fails to amaze me how many guys buy stuff at merchants as a cash not being declared job and leave there name on the ticket .

My investigation does not really affect me as its a mistake by the accountant and is going to cost them around £5k.
I know how in depth they can be a mate got done for a £7 trowel by them thats all they could find

 

[Softus]

The only people I trust are my wife and kids.

Phew! She said you'd kill me if you found out.

 

[AJayGee]

Hi Namsag,

Sound like you are doing well, so far! If you are so succesful why not do everything legally? You will then be even more succesful.

It seems that cash is your God.

Look at the bigger companies and how well their bosses have done. Building up a reputable company with far far greater rewards that you will ever have. A company can be sold one day but your business never could.

Why do you want to be for ever looking over your shoulder and waiting for the day when the tax man and worse the VAT man come calling.

Far better to set up a legitimate company and charge more for a really professional image.

Look at all the VAT you have paid and never been able to claim back. You do not just purchase materials. What about tools, van, fuel etc?

Set up properly and hire people who can increase your business opportunities and sit back one day and thank me for my free advise. Also take in some of the others advise on this forum.

AJayGee

 

[breezer]

Wesley Snipes has just been prisoned for tax evasion

 

[WoodYouLike]

Look at the bigger companies and how well their bosses have done. Building up a reputable company with far far greater rewards that you will ever have. A company can be sold one day but your business never could.........

....Set up properly and hire people who can increase your business opportunities and sit back one day and thank me for my free advise. Also take in some of the others advise on this forum.

AJayGee

Not just bigger companies AJayGee, small to medium companies do rather well with the 'scheme' of being honest an legal - I wouldn't' want to work any other way.
You absolutely right.

 

[namsag]

Oh here we go with the holier than thou brigade.
So you have all declared every single penny you have earned and if you have been paid extra as a tip you have declared this and not done a single private mile in the van that you have not declared etc etc.

Dont know a single sole trader who does perhaps you are the exception
How would i be more succesful by declaring every single thing, how is that going to affect the work that comes my way.

As most of my charges are for labour then VAT registration is not a benefit to me why should i be an unpaid tax collector. And why would the VAT man come calling even the little i dont declare would not take me close to it. There is nothing illegal in ordering materials in a customers name and getting a cheque from them to supplier to pay for it so that it keeps you away from vat threshold

If cash was my god i would work more than a four day week ,its simple i am never going to be a millioinaire so there is no point killing myself trying.
Why would i sell my business i am a sole trader and work comes to me by how good i do my job and my reputation not how good the person who may buy it so people would not use them. Simple but true

Why would i want to take people on i like working by myself(with mate in same position) and not being responsible for anyone else.

And just because the majority of what i take is cash does not mean it is not being declared incase you all assume that. As i said there is a trail that leads straight back to customer and taxman only has to ask them what they paid you and if it don`t match up then its sh#te hitting fan time


So Ajaygee you have given me no advice that i could thank you for

 

[tonybhoy]

Yep,at the end of the day bumping the taxman is just not worth it unless you are sticking thousands in yer tail and that is highly unlikely for a sole trader because of the cash flow problems we all deal with on a daily basis.

I got done for not declaring income on about £6K which amounts to less than £1500 in tax ,ended up costing me £10K in fines and the undeclared tax over the three years they said I was 'at it'.

Could have been worse I suppose.

I was branded a thief too because you have to sign a declaration at the end of the investigation (basically admitting that you have done them and are not hiding any money of valuables) which is on your record forever.

And they can come back anytime they want to for another look which is the main purpose of this declaration they get you to sign,all of this means I have to stay with a super clean accountant firm and pay for the privilege.

My accountant doesn't trust me and no doubt never will,understandably.

Personally I think I was shopped by a disgruntled customer that I fell out with over a job which was nothing to do with money however the investigation couldn't have been cost effective,it lasted for the best part of two years but it did end up with me having to earn more each year in order to pay the £10K so more tax paid and income declared over the three years I was paying them back.

BTW,they are duty bound to 'investigate' any spurious allegation made against you even if that allegation is made anonymously on the phone.

I try nowadays to have no relationships with other trades in a monetary sense because that is also another way in for the tax man and,BTW big mistake using your wife's accounts to buy stuff even if it's all done in her name because anything remotely linked to your business dealings allows the revenue to look at that account in details thus enabling them to investigate your wife's finances.

Tony.

 

[namsag]

Tonyboy my wifes account is perfectly legal and has nothing at all to do with my business and does not lap over in anyway whatsoever so buying anything for lifestyle out of that account is not a worry.
6k and upsetting a customer more fool you i am not on about fiddles anywhere near that level

 

[gas4you]

Fortunately I've never had the pleasure of being investigated by tax or VAT as yet.

I know it will come though. The VAT people guarantee that evey VAT registered person/business will be investigated at some point, they just do not know when.

The tax people have their computer randomly pick people/business each year also.

I know this will be a worry when it comes, although I think of myself as pretty much above board, but financially I have the FSB insurances to cover all the costs of my accountants and their professional tax teams to take over and do most of it for/with me.

At £100/year I feel it is a good value membership to have.

 

[tonybhoy]

Tonyboy my wifes account is perfectly legal and has nothing at all to do with my business and does not lap over in anyway whatsoever so buying anything for lifestyle out of that account is not a worry.
6k and upsetting a customer more fool you i am not on about fiddles anywhere near that level

£100 a week, tax element being £20 mate hardly the crime of the century.

Most guys I know who are in the trade or who are taxi drivers are doing that level of cash in the tail and most of them aren't really doing the tax they are simply paying for stuff/labour in cash because that is the way the world works.

You have someone working for you for a few days and you pay them in cash otherwise they won't work for you in the first place,not exactly the ways of a hardened criminal mind,is it?

Not much different from your vat avoidance scheme ,basically both illegal but ain't going to bring the world crashing down about our ears,LOL.

I know of at least four other plumbers who were investigated at the same time as I was and a joiner who is the most mild mannered guy you could ever meet but was about to do time for the tax inspector after being put through the third degree.

End of the day the self-employed are easy targets be it for the tax man or something like a Corgi sort of organisation gig.

Anyway I've been done and paid my fine so upwards and onwards.

Cheers.

Tony.

 

[tonybhoy]

Fortunately I've never had the pleasure of being investigated by tax or VAT as yet.

I know it will come though. The VAT people guarantee that evey VAT registered person/business will be investigated at some point, they just do not know when.

The tax people have their computer randomly pick people/business each year also.

I know this will be a worry when it comes, although I think of myself as pretty much above board, but financially I have the FSB insurances to cover all the costs of my accountants and their professional tax teams to take over and do most of it for/with me.

At £100/year I feel it is a good value membership to have.

Ironically I asked one of the accountants to set this up for me but he forgot and months later I was investigated.

Accountants fees for the investigation were close to £2K which were tax detuctable,you have to laugh