Golden Job

It's all about Job and Career!

I first began doing transcription work at a financial services firm I worked at from 1991 to 2004. Some time went by and one of the accountants that I had worked with contacted me to see if I would like to be his personal transcriptionist from my home. I figured this would be a good way to supplement my income so I accepted, and that’s exactly what this work turned out to be.

All of the work I do for him is handled via the internet. He emails me the voice file and I type it and email him back the typed Word document. Simple!

As time went by and my frustration with ‘office politics’ grew, and I knew I had to find some way to turn this transcription work into my full-time business. I found it somewhat difficult to find others like this accountant who would like me to type up their information for them and was not keen on the idea of typing resumes all day.

I began searching online for companies that hire independent contractors to do transcription work for them. What a search it was! I found that in addition to the intermingled transcription businesses out there on the internet were a whole slew of ‘get-rich-now-typing-from-home’ schemes. Many of them sound so promising, that I must admit I was ****** in to trying a few. Some are now making me a little money, but most are sitting on a shelf collecting dust.

I finally was able to find websites that truly want people to succeed in the transcription business and listings of the businesses that really do hire transcriptionists. The first company I found said it wasn’t hiring at the time but that I could leave my email address and would be notified when they were hiring again.

Six months went by and I had long given up on the hope of doing transcription full-time from my home, when lo and behold, they emailed me to say they were hiring and I could test for them if I was interested. I went through the testing and finally scored my first position with a national transcription business as an independent contractor.

During their hiring period we all had more work than we could handle. It was great! But then I realized that they had hired so many ICs (independent contractors) that the work was getting hard to come by. I decided the only thing to do was to secure positions with other transcription businesses to make sure I had a full schedule each week.

I now work exclusively with four transcription companies, one of whom is only quarterly work, one I have to set a schedule two weeks in advance and log in for my scheduled time, one calls me with each job to see if I want it, and the other has me email them how much time I’m available for each day/week and they send me that much work.

So, finally, I can say I work from home full-time with legitimate companies and it’s everything I thought it would be and more! I work when I want and from the comfort of home. The pay is comparable to what I made in offices but the freedom is worth more than the money.

The new self employed tax returns were introduced quite late in the reporting process being published at around the end of the financial year, to which they relate, 2006 07. This should not be a problem to those familiar with the previous small business tax return as the format is similar and presented in a simpler way to facilitate better understanding and accurate completion.

Self employed businesses are required to keep records of financial transactions without the necessity for formal accounting but must keep sufficient financial records to support the financial entries submitted in the tax return. While formal financial accounts may not be essential requirements an organised system of record keeping using bookkeeping or accounting software is highly desirable to maintain financial control.

The accounting system employed can be simple lists of financial records supported by sales invoices, purchase invoices and where applicable cash or bank records. The essential support to all bookkeeping procedures are third party documents received or issued to provide a full and fair financial account of the business.

Rules apply whether the short or full return should be submitted to the tax authority. Generally most small businesses with an annual turnover under 64,000 pounds would complete the short tax return however there are specific exclusions where the full return must be completed. The self employment (full) tax return is required to be completed when the following conditions apply and the self employment (short) tax return is required where the conditions do not apply.

1. Sales turnover exceeds 64,000 pounds during the financial year or exceeds an average of 5,333 pounds per month if trading for less than a full financial year.

2. The accounting date to which accounts are made up has changed in the last financial year.

3. The results of the accounts have been declared in a previous tax return.

4. The basis on which the accounts have been prepared has changed from a cash accounts basis an accruals basis.

5. The business includes the provision of professional or contracts that continue into the next financial accounting period.

6. Business is conducted outside the UK.

7. Agricultural or Industrial Buildings capital allowances are being claimed.

8. The self employed basis period is different to the accounting period.

9. Overlap tax relief is being claimed.

10. Averaging profit is being claimed by a farmer, market gardener or creator of literary or art works.

11. Practising barrister or advocate in Scotland.

If none of the above conditions are applicable to the self employed business then the self employment short tax return may be completed.

The self-employment short return is less complex than the full return. The main decision point being the 64,000 pounds limit at which a full return is required which is also the vat threshold for the financial year 2006 07. It may not be coincidental that the chosen cut off point for the full or short return is also the vat threshold applicable in that financial year.

For the financial year commencing April 2008 the vat threshold was increased sales turnover of 64,000 to 67,000 pounds.

Detailed expenditure is not required if sales income for the financial accounting period was under £30,000.

Finally if the self employed person has more than one small business a separate tax return must be completed for each business. This rule applies even if a single set of accounting records has been kept for all the businesses. It is therefore appropriate for separate accounting records to be maintained for each small business to simplify the completion of the tax returns each year.