Sole trader offering home care service - advice would be appreciated

Jonathan_Rodwell

Hi everyone, a close friend of mine is thinking about going self employed as a private home carer and has of course come to their accounting 'know all' friend for advice...or lack of.

Now - the processes involved do appear quite simple on the surface to me but I have not helped out with this sort of thing before (i'm still finishing my further accounting qualifications) and do not claim to be an expert in this area by any means.

If anyone on the forum has experience of accounting for a sole trader offering services your experience and advice would be most welcome - are there any specific things to look out for or any common pit falls? I'm thinking the main decision to make would be whether to go the fuel allowance or capital allowance route for car expenses of which i'm leaning toward the capital allowance option since the business use of the car will be close to 90% so i'd assume this will work out in favor overall. Are there any tax claims I should be sure to consider?

The professional indemnity insurance should be tax deductible from what I understand and that just leaves actually registering for self employment and keeping a clear transaction record of income and outgoings, am I on the right track here?

Gem7321

Advise the client to keep a record of both car expenses and mileage for the first year so you can calculate and adopt the most efficient method.

Consider other deductions such as use of home as office, and consider simplified accounting.