Good News For The Self-employed
After whats been a good week for those in the freelance industry
, HM Revenue & Customs has announced its to hold a series of half-day workshops across South and West Wales, in order to help freelancers with everything from filling in tax return forms to handling VAT.
The customs and tax body has said the events will be aimed at employers, sole traders and those in partnerships, according to small business website bytestart.co.uk. Sessions are due to be held between November 1 and November 29 at various locations including Cardiff, Newport, Bridgend, Port Talbot, Swansea, Carmarthen, Llanelli, Aberystwyth and Haverfordwest.
The workshops are aimed at new start-ups and established small businesses, and are designed to cover everything from the basics of filling in a self-assessment tax return online to handling VAT when trading with businesses and clients in other countries.
Other workshops are entitled: Becoming a Director, Business Expenses and Capital Allowances, International Trade, How VAT Works and Newly Self-employed The Basics.
Freelancers and small businesses interested in attending the free workshops can find more information available through the HMRC's website.
If thats not enough, theres been even more help announced for freelancers this month, with nationalised high street lender Northern Rock altering its mortgage policy for people who are self-employed.
Changes to the company's lending criteria made in October mean it will now accept mortgage applications from freelancers who have been self-employed for two years. In order to verify their income, applicants will have to provide the lender with either two years worth of accounts, an accounts certificate, or SA302 forms from HM Revenue & Customs for the past two years.
According to a report by Mortgage Solutions, Northern Rock previously required self-employed mortgage applicants to have been trading for a minimum of three years. A spokesman told the online news site: "The change to the self-employed policy is in the interest of our customers and is within our risk appetite."
Northern Rock is the just the latest lender to soften its stance towards self-employed mortgage applicants. Last month GE Money unveiled a range of new products created specifically for freelance workers and those who are self-employed.
With plenty of support available for those in freelance jobs, it seems many of them start out at the University College London, as it has the highest percentage of self-employed graduates.
Data put together by the Higher Education Statistics Agency and The QS World University Rankings 2011/2012, shows that 2.4 per cent of the university's students who graduated last year have now turned to self-employment to earn a living. The universities website said the news reflects "the institution's focus on fostering entrepreneurship and turning ideas into business".
Thanks to the recession, an increasing number of British graduates are looking at self-employment as the way forward. Not only has competition for permanent positions increased but many employers are looking to find a freelancer, and in many cases looking for freelance specialists to take on outsourced work.
In the three months to August, the level of unemployment in the UK hit its highest level since the mid-90s. The figures revealed a record number of young people out of work, as youth unemployment hit 991,000.
by: Tim Bisley
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