Tax guides, deductions, and compliance for freelancers and small businesses across US, UK, Canada, and Australia.
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.
The second MTD quarterly update is due 7 November 2026. Updates are cumulative, so it also covers anything Q1 missed. Here is what to reconcile before the final week, what to check in it, and what HMRC receives.
Landlords are half of the MTD population and have rules of their own — gross rents decide your threshold, joint owners are assessed individually, and jointly held property gets a concession on expenses.
A pro forma invoice is a preliminary bill you send before a sale is confirmed. It looks like an invoice, but HMRC treats it very differently: it is not a VAT invoice, it creates no tax point, and neither you nor your customer can use it to reclaim VAT.
Payments on account are two advance instalments towards next year's tax bill. In your first year they land on top of the balancing payment, so 31 January asks for 150% of the bill at once. Here is the maths, the £1,000 test, and how to reduce them safely.
Five dates govern your 2025/26 Self Assessment return. The next one is registration on 5 October 2026, and each date you miss after that carries its own penalty. Here is the full HMRC calendar, with the exact cost of missing each deadline.
The trading allowance gives you a flat £1,000 deduction instead of your actual costs. The crossover is exact and it does not depend on your income: below £1,000 of expenses the allowance wins, above it you lose money by taking it.
HMRC explicitly lists bank statements as valid records for self-employed people, but they prove payment, not purpose. Here's when they're sufficient and when you still need the receipt.
Guide to UK capital allowances in 2026, covering Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) and Writing Down Allowances (WDA) for business equipment, machinery, and vehicles.
HMRC's simplified expenses scheme lets self-employed individuals and partnerships use flat rates for certain costs instead of calculating actual expenses. This guide covers all three categories and when each makes sense.
HMRC requires every self-employed individual, sole trader, and business in the UK to keep adequate records of their income and expenses. Getting this wrong can result in penalties of up to £3,000.
