Tax guides, deductions, and compliance for freelancers and small businesses across US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
A P60 is the end-of-year certificate your employer must give you by 31 May, showing your total pay, tax and National Insurance for the tax year to 5 April. Here is what each box means, how it differs from a P45 and P11D, and which figures you copy onto a Self Assessment return.
Dividend tax is the Income Tax on dividends from company shares. For 2026/27 the basic and higher rates rose two percentage points. What the £500 allowance covers, how dividends stack on your salary, the current rates, and how to report them to HMRC.
A UK tax code is the short string HMRC gives your employer to work out how much Income Tax to take from your pay. Here is what each part means, how 1257L produces £12,570 of tax-free pay, what emergency codes do, and the steps to correct a code that is costing you money.
A sole trader's tax bill is Income Tax on profit plus Class 4 National Insurance on the same profit. Here is how it is worked out for 2026/27, with a full worked example, a table of what you owe at different profit levels, and the one lever that changes the number.
Your Personal Allowance sits on your main job, so a second income is usually taxed from the first pound. Here is how the UK taxes a second employed job and a self-employed side hustle for 2026/27: tax codes, the £1,000 trading allowance, and National Insurance worked out separately per job.
An SA302 is the tax calculation HMRC produces from your Self Assessment return, and it is what mortgage lenders ask self-employed applicants to prove their income. What it shows line by line, how to download it, and why lenders want the tax year overview alongside it.
Since 6 April 2024 most self-employed people no longer pay Class 2 National Insurance. Here is who is credited for free, who still needs to pay voluntarily, and the pension mistake that costs the most.
Under the Construction Industry Scheme a contractor withholds 20% or 30% of a subcontractor's labour as an advance on your tax. Why materials and plant hire are left out, how gross payment status removes the deduction, and how to reclaim through Self Assessment.
The VAT Flat Rate Scheme pays HMRC a fixed percentage of your VAT-inclusive turnover so you keep the difference, but the 16.5% limited-cost rate wiped out the gain for most labour-only businesses. The thresholds, the goods test, and two worked examples of when it saves money and when it costs you.
Since 6 April 2024, cash basis is the default way sole traders and partnerships work out taxable profit, and the old £150,000 turnover cap is gone. How it works, how it compares to accruals, who is excluded, and when to elect for traditional accounting instead.
The VAT registration threshold is £90,000 of taxable turnover, but a backward-looking 12-month test and a forward-looking 30-day test trigger it on different dates. Here are both tests, the exception for a temporary spike, the £88,000 deregistration line, and what registering late costs.
MTD requires a digital record of every transaction — three fields, kept in software, in place before each quarterly update. Here is what that means in practice, what still has to sit behind it, and where people get caught out.
