Becoming self employed

kcphoto

Hi,

Some of you out there might be able to advise me on becoming self employed.

I 'm leaving my current job soon to become a self employed IT support person (totally freelance and not contracted to a specific company).
I'm giving myself a trial period of 3/4 months to see if it works out to plans.
I will not be selling any goods, just service on an hourly rate.

I know that I need to register for VAT if I will turnover more than €25k and that I need to register with the revenue as self employed.

My questions really are
1. As I don't know yet what my turnover will be (but would hope it will exceed 25k), do I have to register for VAT immediately or can I do this during the year ? Also should I be be charging customers VAT from the start?
2. I hope to start earning asap, so if i keep track of earnings and expenses, can I register with the revenue later in the year or should I do it immediately.
3. I also heard that you should register with the Dept of Family and welfare regarding PRSI...is this advisable?
4. What should I have in place when I start, or can I get started and sort all this out afterwards.

My girlfriend is a dance teacher and went out on her own a few years back. She went to an accountant after a few months and they seem to have sorted all her affairs out.However they don't seem very good at answering her simple questions on PRSI etc.
I do intend to go to an accountant when I can afford it and when I have got some idea of how things are going, but what questions should i be asking and can I leave all of the above to them ?

Any advice on the above is appreciated. I know there are various posts on this on boards already but each situation is slightly different.
Thanks.

Mrs. MacGyver

If you have any questions on PRSI I can try to help. Are you planning on sigining on for unemployment payments while going self-employed or are you going to be self-suffient living of savings etc. until the business is established?

Glowing

Have you thought about going with an umbrella company? You pay them a monthly fee (assuming you're working) and they'll look after all your accounting. I found CXC to be very helpful re. tax issues etc.

flash harry

1) there is NO obligation to register for VAT - but you cannot reclaim vat on purchases unless registered.

2) check revenue.ie re when you will first be required to submit a return, this will dictate this

3)not sure

4) make sure you cover the basics like insurance - if you give tech support and someone makes an """" out of there network or similar you want to make sure your covered should they "decide" its your fault. Also get signed contracts from everyone your supporting - will save hassles down the road.

kcphoto

Thanks for all the advice.

I am planning to live off savings rather than sign on.
I'm planning to charge per hour rather than provide maintenance contracts (initially) but I don't understand if I should charge a price including VAT , and if I do, do I then have to pay VAT back to the revenue ?
For example, If I tell a customer the price is €100 per hour , the customer will want to know if that is including or excluding VAT.
If its including VAT, am I then in a position where I need to pay a VAT bill to the revenue ?

Its very frustrating that there seems to be lots of general information about starting a business (if it is a company) and general info on Revenue but not specific, easy to find and logical information that explains what you must do, what the correct forms are etc.
Why isn't there a one-stop resource for this ?
If there is and I've missed it, please let me know.

Thanks again for the replies.

pwd

I was self-employed for a while.
All you need to do is register as a sole-trader. (Ring your tax office about this.) Then submit a tax return of your earnings and expenses once a year (I think aorund October). You can do this online via the revenue site.
You should keep receipts for expenses, although I never needed them.
Then you're good to go. You can investigate registering for VAT later on, when you have a better idea of how much you're going to earn etc.