Well, I would certainly charge her a "rush" supplement for anything like that: probably at least 50% in the circumstances. Do you think that might make her a little less prone to doing it? Or I'd simply say sorry, but I can't fit that in as I have other booked-in jobs already scheduled, and you'll have to wait your turn (only a little more politely than that!). I guess the question is how much you're prepared to risk losing her, but your other clients shouldn't have to suffer just because she can't get herself organised.
Oh dear, just found this one a few years late, but I'll post my experiences just in case it's of use for anyone else. I hope you got it all sorted out to your satisfaction.
Remembering the time I was claiming JA between being made redundant and going full-time freelance, I do sympathise: I'm afraid JobCentrePlus just aren't (or weren't) set up to cope with anything that didn't fit nicely within their very narrow-minded framework. Possibly they may be a bit more enlightened now than they were, but I found myself having to jump through the hoops and apply for jobs I had no interest in and wasn't suited for when, in terms of getting me off the jobless figures, my time would have been far better spent approaching prospective clients and doing things that would be beneficial to setting up my business. I was doing freelance translation for part of the time (keeping well within the 16 hours I was allowed to work per week without losing my claim completely and having to start one all over again, from what I understood), and would be paid several weeks later, depending on what client I was actually working for. JCP were totally incapable of dealing with the fact that I wasn't being paid in the same week I did the work, and kept getting very confused with how much they were supposed to be paying me! I hope they're a bit more flexible by now, but somehow I doubt it.
Anyway, from your point of view, I'd have assumed that as long as you weren't doing more than 16 hours a week you should have been receiving JA pro rata for the hours you weren't working. And you would indeed have had to register as freelance with HMRC and done a self-assessment return as and when required.
Oh, and I understand that - in theory at least - interpreting charges should include travelling time and travelling costs 🙂
Vca, I'm afraid the only way you're going to get an intracommunity no. is by registering for VAT: up to you to decide whether it's worth the hassle. A few translators I know have given in just for a quiet life.
Coming to this rather late, but I'd say it depends: is your name well-known in your field? If so, I'd say stick with it, because it's your brand. If not, then I think I'd be tempted to come up with a company name which perhaps reflects what you do.
We clearly all need to be getting ourselves "active seating" and so on to keep our bodies moving while we work. It's the second time this year I've worked on a text telling me about the dangers of sitting still at my desk, and the message is starting to get through ...
Hello, vca, and welcome to the joys(?) of freelancing. Someone asked this question a while back on one of my professional mailing-lists, so I've emailed her to ask whether she got any replies.
Do you happen to know the VAT threshold for Spain? I don't do any business with them, but I know that for Germany it's so low that basically everyone registers. I seem to remember (for Germany) that people have recommended putting something on your invoices to the effect that you are not registered for VAT as your turnover is below the threshold. Also, try Googling "reverse charge applies" and see where that gets you: I know other people have put that on their invoices, but I don't know whether it helps in this case.
In a number of cases, the simple answer is that the company in question has a software program which simply cannot cope without the VAT No. being filled in ...
My own feeling is that it's better to have a separate bank account through which all your business-related payments can go - makes it so much easier with the tax return. As a sole trader, you're quite entitled to use a personal bank account for this - I do - unless you're going to want to take out loans and things like that.
Hello, Dean. I can't answer most of this, but as a translator, if I work for agencies I would probably have to sign a contract with them to say I won't approach their clients direct (if I know who they are). You'd need to do something similar (and make sure it's watertight. I got an electrical company to do some electrical work for me a few months ago. They were using a contractor, and he made sure to leave me his business card as he went).
This sounds like the dreaded "IR35" rearing its head, although I must admit that I haven't paid much attention to it so far. If you click on "Tax & Legal" in the column which is to my right as I write (although on some pages it seems to be on the left!) you'll come to all sorts of links about it which may help. I think that the gist of the legislation is that if you're a freelance working full-time solely for one employer, then HMRC tend to look at it as a tax dodge by your employer to avoid treating you as an employee, paying NI contributions and so on.
Presumably someone else here will come up with some appropriate links for this - I haven't quite got the hang of where all the useful repeat information is on this forum yet.
Well done! I actually made more money last month (even, I think, allowing for what I shall have to pay the taxman) than my former employers were paying me before I was made redundant. Mind you, not all the work I did was for them, so I suspect their decision was financially justified, and this month's takings look like being well below that, but it was nice when it happened 🙂
'Fraid not. Whatever you pay yourself is known as "personal drawings" and is not tax-deductible, so HMRC told me. OTOH, if you employed someone else and paid them, that *would* be, I think.
As for how much: how much do you need, and how much can you afford?! Make sure you've got enough for the monthly bills and something left over. If your new business account is an interest-bearing one, it's probably advisable not to take money out until you need it, bearing in mind that it may take a few days to transfer over. If you have a goodly surplus, you could look at putting that into some sort of savings account where you can get at it easily as and when. I'm assuming that you're a sole trader, BTW - if you're actually a limited company you'll probably be more restricted in what accounts you can use, I think.
Things are still a little tense, but perhaps not as bad as they were, at least I hope not. I'd really like an opportunity to explain a bit more what I do, and how complex it can be, because why should I expect them to understand otherwise, but neighbour wasn't prepared to listen last time. The situation basically was that they arranged for some major - noisy - work to be done over a (long) weekend which just coincided with me having 2 major deadlines either side of the same weekend. Unfortunate, but it happens. Even more unfortunate was to suddenly find out that, because I was working from home, I effectively had 3 days less to get the jobs done in than I'd thought, or had to move myself elsewhere to get the work done. Not easy to rejig your work schedule with that little notice :(
I must admit that, since my signature only tells people what I do, I'd appreciate an option to have it showing in my profile on the left, rather than put it in a signature. After all, given that we are probably all freelancers, it might be a pertinent piece of information.
The Nationwide is just closing its business account (I looked at it originally and decided it wasn't worth having) to new customers, because they say their counters and way of business can't cope with people paying in large amounts of cheques and the like.
As I understand it, as a sole trader there's no obligation actually to have a business account, and most business accounts will be way beyond what a freelancer needs anyway. I suspect the problem is actually the definition of "business account" - they do have a lot of extra features and numerous implications compared with a current account, and I suspect this is what people mean. I'm certainly using a common-or-garden current account, and nobody's ever commented, and I even pointed out that it would be for my freelancing income and they didn't bat an eyelid. It probably only gets 6-8 payments a month into it anyway, from a handful of different customers. A friend who's been freelancing for a decade doesn't even have a separate current account for her business payments, but I think it's easier for your tax returns if you do.
I don't think you need to set up a business account as a sole trader, especially if you're only part-time. OTOH, you might find that a separate account for your freelance work makes things a lot clearer when you need to do your tax returns.
Graeme, I'm not sure whether I can do much more than sympathise here, since I'm in a different field from you - would you perhaps be better off asking this question in the Design forum?
I'm a translator. I use a programme called translation memory, which stores each sentence I translate and my translation of it, so it can recall the sentence if it appears again and tell me how I translated it last time so I don't have to translate it again (this happens not infrequently with updates of manuals and suchlike). Now, some clients are perfectly fine about this, but others - I've yet to encounter one personally, but I will eventually, no doubt about it - will insist on you providing them with a computer file containing all these translated sentence pairs so they can use it in their own translation memory system. Some of them do indeed just want it for backup purposes, but others will certainly use it so that next time they can perhaps pass it on to another translator who can undercut you, which sounds similar to your situation. A lot of my freelancer colleagues refuse point-blank to hand over these files; others will, but only for an additional charge (usually a little lower than the cost of the client taking the original and translated Word documents and doing it themselves, which they can do if they're that keen). Very few will do it for free. Obviously, I don't know whether that way of working would also work in your field.
One thing that I do wonder about, though, is what happens, contractually speaking, to the copyright of your work? Does it remain with you, with the customer merely receiving a licence to use it, or do you actually assign it to the customer once payment has been received? If it's the former, then do they have any right to pass it on to another company? I'm no expert on copyright law, but I know of other translators who, when payment hasn't been forthcoming, have contacted the client, or even the end-client, to point out that they have no right to use the translation until payment has been made. Perhaps this might even be a valid approach in relation to your original client, since they still haven't paid you? Do you have a free legal advice service you could contact about this?
Hi there. Should I assume from the fact that you mention rented accommodation in the title and then don't refer to it again that your concern is the standard (I think) wording in an assured shorthold tenancy agreement or whatever they call them that prevents you running a business from that address? I think I'd be tempted to ring HMRC and ask them what the situation is, or possibly BusinessLink or someone. I think you do need to provide a physical address (as opposed to a PO Box no.) to register, don't you? And I wonder whether there would be any other implications if, say, you used your parents' address?
Hi Andy. You don't say what field you're working in, which might help. OTOH, how long is a piece of string? I'd guess somewhere between 30 and 100%, but I could be completely wrong.
I would just ask, though, have you checked your terms and conditions with the agency? A lot of them would involve a prohibition on working for their clients without using them as an intermediary, at least for a set period after you stop working for them, because nobody likes to have their clients poached, and it can get your professional name blackened.
I wondered if anyone had any useful (non-criminal, please 🙂 ) tips about dealing with issues arising with neighbours, especially if you live in flats or other close quarters, when you have to work from home - especially if it's the type of job that requires a lot of concentration - and they don't appreciate that something they may be doing causes you a lot of unnecessary grief, work-wise? I've just had an unpleasant experience with my neighbour, and want to avoid another one in future.
If you'd prefer to contact me privately, then please do.
Hi Julio, it's good to see another translator on here :). Are you a member of the ITI at all? I ask, because I have a feeling I've seen this subject coming up on one of the networks I'm a member of, and I didn't pay attention because Spanish isn't one of my languages. But you definitely shouldn't give them your UTR - that's your business only, nobody else's (apart from HMRC's).
Do feel free to contact me privately if it'll help.
A little more feedback on the subject of business bank accounts:
A friend of mine who's been freelancing for years has never used a separate bank account for her business dealings, and is perfectly happy with the situation. I, on the other hand, wanted to have my business-related transactions showing up nice and clearly for the taxman, so I've opened another current account for everything to do with the business. It's not, however, a "business" bank account, just a standard current account. I looked at the business offerings from some banks/building societies, and was quite surprised at how inappropriate some of them were for me as a sole trader. There was, for instance, the body which offered about 0.1% (or was it 0.01?) interest on the balance, and gave you a cheque book but no debit card. I don't know about you, but if I tried to buy things for the business with a cheque in Staples, or PC World, or wherever, I don't think I'd get very far :).
