Well after my gate sales sucess, I am dabbling with poultry feed.
I buy in bulk, and sell to the local community, to save them fuel ( and money) not big business but everyone wins.
So...... The eggs from the gate buy my feed, everyone else pays for theirs, the garden produce pays for next years seeds... No profit, just everything goes back into the garden and animals.
But I have had to register as self employed! The accountant said he had never seen anyone do this before ( working for virtually nothing - except fresh eggs, veg and fruit and a great way to bring up my children! doesn't seem so strange.)
But now I have books to keep, forms to fill out blah, blah, blah!!
..... So all you self reliant people.... be warned!!
Down The Lane Forum
A community of people sharing advice and ideas for a simpler lifestyle
Have confused the accountant...Tee Hee!
Have confused the accountant...Tee Hee!2 children, half a springer Spaniel, a Hamster, 2 Goldfish and an allotment. And a very excited, now mummy of some chickens again, Daisey, Dotty and Master Yoda!
A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion! Mmmm......I am doing the farmgate sales with eggs, now people are asking me to sell my organic veg there too. My egg sales pay for the feed, not sure I am actually making any profit - although selling plenty of eggs.
My uncle was a farmer, and when I was young, I used to see him off on his annual trip to the accountant. Thinking back, I pity that accountant. Uncles's idea of paperwork and keeping books, was a notebook listing all the cows he sold at market, and bought, and a list of feed he bought etc .....not even in date order. Oh and then there was the briefcase he took with him, stuffed with bills and receipts. If my memory serves me right, they only charged him £25 to sort the books out, and I don't think he ever paid much, if any tax!! Perhaps you could do the same to confuse your accountant even further lol!! If you keep your records straight, write down all your receipts for stuff you have bought, in a book, and keep another book recording sales, the accountant shouldn't charge very much.
My accountant has has just completed my end of year and close of business 07 - 08, and filled out my self assessment on line. He charged me £120 plus vat. The tax refund I will get will almost cover his bill. I had my business for nearly five years and it only made a small profit in one year, all the rest it lost money. The accountant knows what business expenses to claim for. Good luck in your new business. 
Ilona
Thanks guys,
Teasel, I think I might be related to your uncle! However my receipts are kept in a cardboard box, maybe I need to raid the charity shops for a suitcase! But I have taken note meanqueen, and the idea of having straight books and less money to pay sounds more up my street in the long run! I shall ask my husband for a tutorial on excel spread sheet and get organised! Feel a bit better about the prospects of being 'self-employed'! actually it sounds like I know what i'm doing!!! ( sort of!) Who'd have thought that eggs could be so complicated! x 2 children, half a springer Spaniel, a Hamster, 2 Goldfish and an allotment. And a very excited, now mummy of some chickens again, Daisey, Dotty and Master Yoda!
A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion! We have a small limited company, and due to the number of staff being below 50 and turnover below £? can't remember, I don't have an accountant as we are audit exempt. I use Sage accounting software and at the year end I prepare all the figures and file them on-line, then send in a copy of the full accounts to company house. It took a while to set up the spreadsheet but now I just fill in the figures each year and it only takes a couple of days. I've never had any accountancy training just learnt it over the years. We have 12 staff and t/o about £500,000. In the old days our accountancy bill could be as much as £6,000 a year, but we had 120 staff and £3m t/o
 Yes, if you keep everything straight and in order, the accountants job should be easy, and cheaper. If you haven't got one, look for someone who specialises in small businesses, make sure they are chartered, and if they work from a basic small office you wont be paying fancy prices for their overheads. Don't go for the big glass fronted shop ones.
Ilona If you are just earning a little bit from produce I doubt you need an accountant.
I do some dance calling, I've told the tax man but don't pay any tax as there is no profit after the expenses and capital allowances. There used to be page on the self assesment form to put income, expenses and capital (you can write off a proportion each year), that was all you had to do if it was below a certain amount. And once they decided there was no profit they didn't send a form every year. This years form seemed slightly more complicated, but I could still do it myself. They never query it, but keep the receipts just in case. You're right, Mo. I didn't need an accountant, I did my own books and tax forms for a previous business, but I find the system so confusing, and I have dyscalculia, numbers baffle me. I can record things but I can't work things out. So an accountant gave me peace of mind, for instance he knows what percentage of utility bills can be put down for business use if you have a room in your house for business. I can't do percentages.
For people who are confident with numbers, give it a go yourself. Ilona my accountant's had his head in his hands on many occasions, and every time i see him i joke with the office girls that's it's like going to see the headmaster.
he just can't see (in true bean counter fashion) that my business is more a lifestyle trying to get away from the ratrace than a sincere effort to make large sums of money so that i can give 20% to the taxman. i don't need huge profits, or the stress that goes with making them. as long as everything is covered with a little left over for emergencies and the odd beer, then i'm happy. the only problem is how long will the tax man keep his sense of humour when the "business" is constantly loosing money (on paper, after the bean counter's crunched the numbers) and declares my little farm to be a "hobby". i would stand my ground and argue the case that i am making a living, it might not be to normal standards, but it suits me. has anyone been in this situation? Hi Ed, I ran an introduction agency for 3 years, I did the books myself and it didn't make any money. I then had a giftware business for nearly 5 years, this also didn't make a profit. I was also employed on a part time basis (low earnings) as well as self employed. I got an accountant who managed to get me tax rebates each year.
I often used to worry that the tax man would wonder how on earth I was managing to live, and one day turn up on the doorstep and ask to see my books. Of course it was all above board, the accountant claimed everything he could. My biggest money spinner was the 40p per mile business mileage, all legitimately claimed, the furthest was a 600 mile round trip. I used to travel out to shows and fairs every weekend. I don't know how long you can have a business that never makes money, in this climate, I should say it will be a long time. Ilona
I stick my receipts onto A4 pieces of paper - so all 'office consumables' (tea, coffee, sugar, biccies, etc) tend to be supermarket receipts, and they are all stuck next to each other on sheets. It therefore makes it easy to tot up later (usually just before a visit to the accountant).
As long as you want to! Don't forget that a business which makes a loss, for tax purposes, is in fact appreciating in value. So, for example, a company with a tax loss of £50k is desirable to be acquired by a company with pre-tax profits to offset. It buys your company and your £50k accumulated tax loss can be offset against its profits - so a company with a tax loss is in fact worth money! I've done my best to explain it, but I'm sure you get my drift. Our accountant is fine and as he does the accounts knows what's what's. It's the idiots at the bank! You have a young person with a GCSE in accounts appointed as your 'Business Manager ' who knows nothing about your work but looks at your accounts and tries to tell you how to run your business. I'm supposed to go and see mine but he expects me to go into town because he 'car shares' Up until a few years ago we had one of the last old fashioned bank managers, spent 1 1/2 hours in his office or my house, 10 mins max on business, the rest on chitter chatter = no problems.
I daren't go and see this one. I didn't see the last two as they 'phone up and introduce themselves about every 6 months when they change. He did tell me that although we don't max out on our overdraft facilites they view it as if we do! i'd worked out that a company with a tax loss is worth it's weight in gold...a couple of years ago, i spoke to the family credit people, just on the off chance i might make a few quid, and they added up two years losses from when i was setting up the farm. the losses managed to wipe out a full time engineers wage and they promptly sent me a cheque that put a really big smile on my face...some you win, especially since my "losses" were walking about in the field munching grass!
|
Down the Lane
Regular entries focusing on Nature in the Garden and beyond
Click here to go there
Poultry Supplies •Chicken Fencing •Drink & Food Feeders •Health & Wellbeing •Red Mite Products •Poultry Feed •Automatic Door Openers •Chicken Keeping Books
Chicken Breeders Over 400 Breeders across the UK now listed.. Chicken Breeders & Other Poultry UK Pages
Ex-Battery Hen |
