Accountants and tax situation

[MistressInLatex]

Morning everyone!

I've been working on AW since the beginning of the year as a student, but will soon be officially graduated and relying on AW as my main source of income. I will be looking to get an accountant but where would I stand on tax since the beginning of the year? Will my information with AW be passed on anywhere in regards to earnings/tax?

[beauvoir]

Top my knowledge AW do not pass on your information to anyone else and though you might hear scare stories of the HMRC investigating websites like AW, realistically, they don't have to resources to do that. If you don't want to pay your tax bill you're probably not going to get found out unless someone reports you - and I have plenty of stories of asshole clients who have threatened to.

But, it really is in your best interests to declare your earnings. If you want to buy a house, or get another job on a PAYE scheme, then it helps to have some record of your earnings which can be checked. You probably won't go to prison if the HMRC do find out about you,regardless of what you hear, but you won't win any friends in the webcam community who all declare their earnings and pay tax on what they earn.

If you started working in January 2014, then the tax year ended in April 2014 and you have until January 2015 to declare and pay your earnings, so you have time to get it sorted. The tax you pay will only be on the money earned between January and April, and if its less than £9k, then you won't pay any, and any amount over will be taxed at 20%. You won't pay very much. The HMRC are SHIT and SLOW so go onto the HMRC website and set yourself up as self employed sooner rather than later. I started working and didn't set myself up until a good year and a half later so I had to pay some interest and fines. It wasn't a lot, but it was a hassle that I didn't need. You still have plenty of time. The money you make from April 2014 - April 2015 .. just keep a log of it so that when the tax year ends you are in a position to know what you earned and what you spent.

I don't know if you keep a log of your earnings, but go back through your bank account statements and make a note of the date and amount every time AW paid you. Also, go through your recipes and make a note of the date and amount of everything you spent relating to your job. Electricity bills, sex toys, rubber underwear, lipstick, lighting rigs... all of it.

If you have no idea what you're doing then it may be worth your while to get an accountant and get one sooner rather than later as from about November/December they're so busy sorting it all out for the next tax year that they rarely take on new clients. I do all my taxes myself because I'm organised (bordering on obsessive) and I like playing with numbers, plus I have the help of a friend who is a chartered accountant, but if you don't know what you're doing then it's worth paying a few hundred pound for the help.

[beauvoir]

Yeah, you're welcome by the way.

[MistressInLatex]

Brilliant, thank you so much! I will certainly be paying tax, particular in terms of renting, I just wasn't sure exactly where I stood on all of that, and was hoping to get an accountant. Would I have any issue with accountants and having to explain what I do, or would they simply be interested in it being a freelance position and not want too many details?

[missdemeanour]

Any accountant worth his salt wouldn't give a damn if you decide to tell him, as long as its legal and he gets paid. When I told my accountant what I do his only comment on the subject was "That's what the internet was invented for, porn and gambling" lol he's a tic tac too, not a mint, one of those guys waving his hands around and taking bets at the races lol
Basically its up to you what you tell him, even the tax office don't need to know exactly what you do, only that you are self employed.

[MistressInLatex]

Wonderful news! Haha. So I have until January 2015 to declare what I've earnt from January 2014-April 2014, and if it's under £9000 (which I'm fairly certain it is) I don't have to pay any tax on it. I shoul get myself sorted out with an accountant before November this year for my earnings April 2014-April 2015. Is that right? Doesn't sound quite as scary as I thought!

[beauvoir]

That's right!

It's really not scary at all, and very straight forward, and if you call HMRC the people there are very helpful. The only scary thing is giving away part of your income. I won't lie, I fucking hate it. I take no pride in paying my taxes, however it is a civil duty so I do it.

I would get an accountant sorted as soon as you can. It will cost about £200 a year (ish). I had one for the first two years I was self employed, and after a few years working in a different industry, I started doing my own taxes as there is lots of help online and other camgirls are always willing to help.

You have lots of time, so don't worry about it. Importantly, you have enough time to start putting maybe 20% of your income into a separate savings account so in the future when you have to pay a bigger tax bill, you will have the money ready and waiting. I don't. I save a bit, spend the rest, then panic when it comes to January.

Accountants won't judge you on your job. The only thing you need to cautious of - and the reason I started doing my own taxes - is that what you consider a legitimate expense, an accountant may contest. I put through rubber underwear, make up, sex toys and condoms through as an expense and my accountant contested this due to "dual purpose" issues (as in, I can use that for reasons other than work). He was protecting his own back in case I got audited, but I don't appreciate men telling me how to do my job so I fucked him off and did it myself.

xx

[missdemeanour]

I also do all my own accounts now and just give my accountant the income and expenses figures for the year, he then files to the tax office and tells me if or how much I need to pay, (accountants fees are also tax deductable). To date I rarely have had to pay anything, it's suprising just how much you can claim for, plus if you can afford to do it, keep your earnings below the tax threshold.

[beauvoir]

That's £9k a year!!

I mean, it's doable but... well below the poverty line.

[missdemeanour]

Does that not increase to something like £11k next April? I might be wrong lol. Yes it is low but if you have a young family you will be in receipt of child benefit and you could/should also be able to claim working tax credits and child tax credits, if you pay for child care you can also claim that. These are all things that a lot of people are legit. entitled to but have no idea unless they are told by some one else. Any ladies reading this that don't claim the above, please look into it! There are millions of unclaimed benefits just sitting there because people aren't aware of what they are entitled to, thats a fact. They all made a hell of a difference to my income when I needed them to but it was my sister-in-law that told me, not my accountant, not my bank, no one in authority! Oh and of course I have an SO who is also self employed, different line of business, but I do his accounts too .

That's £9k a year!!

I mean, it's doable but... well below the poverty line.