How to Do Your Taxes When You're Self-Employed

Whether you’re a freelancer, full-time entrepreneur, or something in between, being self-employed means it’s entirely up to you to complete the paperwork and send in the right amount of money to your tax agencies. 

If you want to keep as much of your hard-earned cash as possible, it’s important to be organized and stay on top of your tax responsibilities throughout the year. 

Luckily, there are plenty of apps and services out there that can help you do this. Here are four tips for doing your taxes when you’re self-employed:

Work With a Professional

Don’t do your taxes yourself—find an accountant to help you. Working with a professional can save you money in the long run. If you are just taking advice from random people online or inexperienced friends, you are probably paying too much in taxes.

Many accountants offer free consultations so take advantage of this service. It’s worth getting an outside opinion as there are many deductions and exemptions entrepreneurs would otherwise miss out on.

Keep Your Documents Organized

Experts from companies like Right Choice Insurance and Taxes Inc. encourage entrepreneurs to keep their business and personal expenses, receipts, and other documents organized throughout the year. 

Organizing is key to simplifying your taxes come April. You should also save money throughout the year to ensure you have enough money to pay for your taxes once the paperwork is complete.

Use Software to File Your Taxes

If you’re self-employed, you likely know all too well how complicated it can be to file your taxes. Thankfully, there are plenty of options for filing your taxes that are designed with independent contractors in mind. 

These programs streamline much of what is involved in filing taxes, making it easier than ever to accurately report income and expenses. The best programs also offer tips for deductions and credits you may not have considered.

Don't Forget Your Deductions

Knowing what deductions are available to you when you're self-employed is important, but can be tricky to navigate. Self-employed workers may deduct many of their business expenses in much the same way that employees do. 

Office supplies, computer equipment, and Internet service can all qualify as deductions if they're used exclusively for your work.

If you’re self-employed, filing your taxes can be quite confusing. Save yourself from the headache of mishandling your taxes by considering these four tips.

How to Be Financially Smart With Your Tax Refund

We should be proud of the long-term success when we look back at our finance progress. One should think of spending tax refunds in pleasurable but profitable ways that will relatively give you happiness at some point when we look back. Think about it.

Instead of spending that cash infusion in a way that leaves your finances neutral or even worse off, here are several ways Tax Refund smartly leaves you better off if you want to gain some real momentum with your finances.

1. First of all, pay off high-interest debt

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome if you want to build wealth is High-interest debt. Just remember that it is difficult to get ahead when so much of your payment goes to interest-only if you owe money on credit cards or carry personal loans with high-interest rates. But use your tax refund to repay this debt, you would save yourself almost four years of monthly minimum payments, and monstrous interest payments.

2. Emergency fund savings

Experts have suggested that people should stock an emergency fund with at least three to six months of expenses, even a smaller amount is a good place to start in case of any emergency, so as not to blame one’s self when the bills come. Build an emergency fund is exceptionally essential for your financial health whether you carry some high-interest debt or live a debt-free lifestyle. 

You’re prone to struggle if you face unexpected financial emergencies without an emergency fund such as unexpected home repairs expenses and all the significant unforeseen bills that you can think of. Consider adding your tax refund to the pot if you have a savings account.

3. HAS Contribution –Health Savings Account Contribution

Once you open a health savings account (HSA) which is a tax-advantaged saving account set up specifically to pay for healthcare cost, you’ll be able to deduct contributions up to a certain limit, watch your money grow tax-free, then use your funds for qualified healthcare expenses on a tax-free basis. You can withdraw funds for several purposes if you don’t use up your HSA funds by the time you turn 65, --even to pay for retirement.

4. Self-Investment

Let me remind you that you’re your own greatest asset, so if you receive enough cash in your tax refund to invest in anything, spending that money to improve yourself. And as we may have it, there are several ways you could decide to invest to upgrade your status towards a better income. 

Pursue professional skills or a type of certification that adds values to you. Bear in mind that any investment you make in yourself will likely pay off in the short term and throughout your life and career.

5. Initiate several savings buckets

Starting several different savings accounts can be a smart move if you have competing financial goals and want to save for all of them. Also, commit to weekly or monthly contributions after you might have spread your tax refund across several accounts. You may want to save up for a newer car or update your kitchen. Learn to give yourself a head start toward achieving everything you desire by growing different savings buckets.

Now, it’s up to you to put your tax refund to good use whether it’s a huge or small amount. Also, if you can’t wait to get the money you need, you can always try and to get a cash advance on tax refund. Just make sure that you do your research before making any financial decision!

Impact of GST on Insurance Premium

Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Insurance

The implementation of GST is aimed at reducing the burden of double taxation from the price of goods and services was a positive move to restructure India’s current tax system. However, this restructuring has impacted various sectors of the economy, including insurance, in different ways.

The insurance sector is a buzz and concerned with the hike in the percentage of taxes to be paid on the premium component of a policy. 

Earlier the highest tax percentage for a policyholder was 15%; with the implementation of GST, the percentage has increased by 3% resulting in levying a maximum of 18% of taxes on premium value.

Insurance Sector in India

Insurance Sector is an upcoming area in India and only a small percentage of population opts for insurance policies. In 2016, the fraction of people opting for insurance saw a dip in overall percentage and recorded a low of only 2.6% in insurance subscription or renewal from existing policy holders. 



Therefore this increase in percentage of taxes from 15% to 18% is seen as a great concern from the insurance sector.

Impact of GST on Insurance premiums

Tax on health insurance, family health insurance, auto insurance, travel insurance, corporate insurance and various other non-life plans would be 18%. For general insurance, corporate insurance holders can enjoy input tax credit on the GST paid on their policies.

Future of Insurance for policy holders

Though the increase in tax percentage is likely to create short term inflation, this change must not undermine the importance and benefits of insurance for the policyholder and their loved ones. 

Financial and health cover for an individual and their loved ones is of utmost importance and must not be neglected. Such covers protect a policyholder with facilities like cashless hospital services in case of individual health and family health insurance.

GST and India

GST is implemented to eradicate the twofold taxation on the price of goods and services. Indirect taxes will have an impact because of GST and a comprehensive restoration of taxation is about to happen in India. 

Though it proves to be difficult for the time being to bear a higher tax value, Indian economy will surely benefit from the implementation of GST. Simplified taxation on cost price and reforming the indirect tax plan is the prime objective of bringing GST to the forefront.

To conclude, GST is a way to control and simplify the confusion in the Indian tax sector. Always insist on knowing the premium value excluding GST to know the exact amount of premium paid. Take help from online aggregators to compare various policies and arrive at the desired cover.

The Busy Person’s Guide to the Autumn Statement 2013

On Thursday 5th December the Chancellor George Osborne revealed the Government’s plans for the next few years in his 2013 Autumn Statement. While in recent years these statements have been the source of much doom and gloom, this one was somewhat of a breath of fresh air.

The statement comprised of a variety of sections including tax, pensions, transport, housing and employment. Throughout this article we are going to break down each of the sections and give you a brief overview of the most important aspects of the statement. 

Tax

As of April 2014 the personal tax allowance will increase to £10,000 meaning you’ll be able to earn an additional £560 more per year without being taxed. The higher rate (40%) tax threshold will also be increasing 1% in 2014 and 2015.

The good news doesn’t stop there; the government have asked Local Authorities to freeze council tax rates in 2014. Naturally, it is up to the Local Authorities to decide whether or not they adhere to the government’s request however there is currently no evidence to suggest that they won’t. The chancellor also revealed plans to crackdown on tax evasion, avoidance and fraud which will raise £9bn over the course of the next 5 years. 

Pension

Unsurprisingly (due to the growing life expectancy in the UK) the state pension age is set to increase to 68 in the mid-2030s and again to 69 in the mid-2040s.

This was greeted with news that the basic state pension will increase 2.7% as of April next year. Unfortunately though having broken this 2.7% increase down, it only converts to £2.95 per week! 

Transport & Motoring

The stand-out news in the transport section of the Chancellors statement is that the scheduled 2p per litre rise in fuel has been scrapped; news that has been welcomed by motorists nationwide.

It was also revealed that the old fashioned paper tax disks will be replaced with an online system from October of 2014. This also opens up the chance to pay tax via monthly direct debit along with the traditional annual or biannual payments. 

Housing

The housing section was largely dominated by the Help to Buy scheme and the Governments plans to push renewable energy in the UK.

The chancellor echoed the Prime Ministers praise for the Help to Buy scheme and announced the mortgage providers Virgin and Aldermore will be joining the scheme later this month. This was accompanied with news of a £1billion funding line to help ‘stalled housing developments’ move forward; ultimately increasing the amount of new builds available.

In a hope to boost the amount of homes employing renewable energy sources the government is launching various grants and schemes. They are firstly looking to offer £1,000 energy efficiency grants for home buyers which will be available subject to passing home inspections. They will also be targeting private landlords by offering various incentives to improve the efficiency of their properties. 

Employment & Education

In a hope to further boost employment rates, the Government is targeting school leavers and young adults by offering various schemes to help them get their foot in the door.

The first is a scheme in association with Job Centre Plus that looks to help those with few qualifications get on the employment ladder. Alongside this 20,000 more apprenticeship opportunities will also be created in the next two years.

The Chancellor also announced plans to put a stop to those spending large amounts of time on unemployment benefits. These plans state that 18 to 21 year olds will face losing their benefits after 6 months if they don’t take a work placement. 

Conclusion

As you can see the general outlook is positive. When you pair this with the fact that growth is up, employment is up and the deficit is down – the next few years could bright for the UKs economy.

This article has been written by Jason Scott on behalf of UK Credit Limited. For more up-to-date finance related news and guides visit https://www.guarantorloansonline.co.uk/Blog.

Planning the Best Strategy for your Tax Affairs

There are so many aspects to taxation that it is impossible for a layman to understand everything. You certainly do not want to be paying tax when you need not, and if there are allowances that you can offset against tax, you want to know all about them. A specialist in tax is the answer for you, especially if your finances are particularly complex.

Specialists

Even within the UK tax structure there are specialists working in small sections of legislation and for some people there may be the need for more than a single expert. If you feel you want advice, you need to find an expert with which you can discuss your personal scenario and take it from there.

You may need help on personal affairs or on those of your business. The process will be the same but you are likely to be guided to a different specialist after the initial assessment has been completed. If you are looking for help on a business level you may also need personal help on the assumption you may have large assets. There is always inheritance tax to take into consideration as well as your investments and pension provision.

Start the process

If you find the right company, it is likely that you can begin with a telephone call with no obligation at that stage. That call should identify your general needs. If you then want to proceed further, a meeting can be arranged where you are welcome to bring along your accountant or financial adviser to take things a step further. You are certain to be able to understand the fees involved and what you will get for your money before beginning.

Various areas

Corporate and personal taxation are just two of the areas that may be examined. There are strategies that can relieve you of stamp duty and pension products that maximise tax efficiency. Allowances against tax are widespread and 100% legal. You should be thinking about your taxable income each year and find out what can be done to reduce it. Protecting your assets where legal and possible makes absolute sense.

Inheritance tax is a common area where those with considerable assets need help. It is certain that you can find ways to reduce your liability if you make that call. Capital Gains Tax is another popular area that you can receive advice on and implement measures to handle it in the most efficient way.

Your money is hard earned and building up your assets will have taken hard work, and possibly very long hours. You want to protect them whilst obviously paying the tax that is due. That does not mean you should want to pay tax when it is not necessary to do so.

Tax planning can be fairly complex because it involves so many things. Budgets regularly propose and ultimately pass new legislation throughout the tax regime. If you want to keep abreast of things and know your affairs are being handled in the most tax efficient way, you need an expert.

How an Inheritance Funding Advance Could Help Your Family

Are you expecting an inheritance that you may not immediately receive? If you need to pay for expenses while the paperwork moves through the courts, there is a reliable solution. Although many inheritances are resolved quickly, inconsistencies in the will could mean you are waiting months before the funds are available. 

While you wait for a judge’s ruling, bills pile up and cause their own set of issues. On the other hand, an inheritance funding advance is easy to obtain, and it provides you with upfront cash to help you pay for what you need. 

Why Do You Need an Inheritance Advance? 

Losing a loved one is never easy, but when they leave behind dependents, being unable to access the money they left behind can create hardships. This is especially true if the inheritance will be used to pay for an elderly relative, children or a relative living with disabilities. However, there are several reasons why an inheritance can be delayed. In some cases, this delay can last for several years. 

Why is My Inheritance Delayed? 

When a person dies, the courts can become involved for several reasons including wrongful death or inconsistencies around the cause of death. In some cases, it can take coroners several months to determine why a person has died. 

This means that the death certificate is on hold, and this delays dispersal of any inheritance monies. Nevertheless, the primary issue that can delay an inheritance includes probate court and inconsistencies in the will. In some states, probate court is called surrogate or orphan’s court. 

Can I Get an Inheritance Loan for an Intestate Death? 

When someone dies, the estate that they leave behind is dictated by the last will and testimony. In this case, this is referred to as a testate. Sadly, when a person dies and does not leave a will behind, this is termed as an intestate death and all property falls into the courts’ hands. In these cases, an inheritance loan can still be obtained upon review by a lending agency. 

How Do Inheritance Advances Work? 

When you apply for an advance on an inheritance, the paperwork is carefully reviewed by loan officers. Although you may not understand the legalese of the process, the trained professionals involved will help you determine why you are accepted or denied. Once the application is approved, the next step is dispersal of the loan. 

Typically, a bank will give a loan and charge an interest rate along with a monthly repayment plan. On the other hand, when you use an inheritance loan service, they typically charge a fixed rate. This means that you will get your estimated inheritance advance in a lump sum minus the fees of the loan agency. When the inheritance is finally approved by the courts, the loan advance company will collect what is owed to them. 

What If I Do Not Get My Inheritance? 

In rare cases, the people due for an inheritance are denied their benefits from the courts. This action can be appealed, but it certainly makes everyone nervous. If this occurs, the proper course of action is to repay the loan as if it were distributed by the bank. 

Regardless, most people do not need to worry about this unique mishap. Instead, many satisfied customers will tell you that getting an inheritance advance beats paying late fees and discontinuation fees from overdue bills. For all of these reasons, when you need an advance on your inheritance, do not hesitate to utilize a company like Inheritance Cash Advance to call on the advice of professionals.