What's the one thing that many of us artists and creatives dread more than all else every year? That’s right, it’s tax time! As creatives we would rather put all our energy towards our work instead of stressing out about our accounting (or lack thereof). Luckily for us, today’s guest cuts right through the jargon and gives us some accounting tips in plain English.*

*That’s kind of an awesome (if unintentional) pun, as this week we’re focussing on the accounting specifics for UK based freelancers. If you’re from the US or anywhere else, most of the general practices cross over, and we’re going to be having a US accountant of the show coming up soon!

Emily Coltman works with online accounting company, FreeAgent and she generously takes us through a variety of topics including what the differences are between a sole trader and a limited company in the UK, what receipts you need to keep and how to best do that, and the ins and outs of V.A.T. It is a jammed pack episode so make sure you have some paper and a pen ready because the information will be coming at you fast.

She also gave a ton of tips and tricks for the freelancers who are just starting out and have no clue as to how to set up their business for legal and tax purposes, plus gave us some great guides and tools to use to make this time of year a little bit less scary.

Do you use an accountant for your business or do you do it all yourself? Have you ever tried an online accounting company? What did you find to be the pros and cons? Leave us a comment below!

In this episode

The differences between operating as a sole trader or a limited company including some specifics regarding tax time
The importance of separating your banking between personal and business
Top three expenses you can claim
The ins and outs of V.A.T.
Some clarification on the legalities of working with overseas clients in terms of your accounting

Related links

Check out the full show notes here

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009: What You Need To Know About Accounting As A Freelancer w/ Emily Coltman of FreeAgent

Motion Hatch: Helping Motion Designers Do Better Business