Debitoor blog

Many professions have fairly up-front billing, making it fast and easy to create invoices with the right invoicing software. However, many self-employed also work on sales commission and are looking for the right solution for including this on their invoices.

If you’re not sure, commission refers to any compensation (additional or base) that is earned based on the amount of sales an individual makes. In other words, the more sales made, the higher the commission received.

Commission is generally used as an incentive - employers offer the commission on top of a salary to encourage employees to sell more. This can also apply to a self-employed individual with a contract to work with larger companies.

Many small businesses and freelancers start issuing invoices with Word or Excel. Initially, this makes quite a lot of sense – you already know how to use them and they’re already installed on your computer. But as your business grows, you’ll soon realise that Word and Excel aren’t the best options for invoicing, simply because that isn’t what they’re designed for.

On the other hand, while it might seem like an unnecessary expense to pay for an additional program just for invoicing, investing in invoicing software is the smarter option in the long run, not least because specialist software has many options and functions that simply aren’t available in Word or Excel – including these 7 important features.

It’s one of those inevitabilities when it comes to running a business. At some point, it’s more than likely that you’ll need to reimburse a customer. There are a few main situations that can lead to this, but the result is ultimately the same.

However, there are a number of things to consider and some steps to take depending on the particular situation and how you will be processing the refund.

One of the more important things to have in place even before you start making sales is a clear return policy. This will provide guidance not only to the customer but also to you in the event that a return is the cause for a refund request. More on this to come.

When you run a small business or work as a sole trader, you become responsible for managing your company taxes, which involves charging sales tax, lodging tax returns, and claiming tax credits. It’s therefore important to understand which taxes you might be accountable for if you run your own business in Australia.

In this blog post, we take a look at some of the main business taxes in Australia and explain how they might affect sole traders and small business owners.

Most business owners issue invoices on a regular basis. This can become repetitive and time-consuming if you manually create each and every invoice, but using a pre-made invoice template can save you time and make sure that your invoices contain all of the necessary details. Here’s what sole traders should look for in an invoice template.

Beyond the standard UK 20% VAT on products/services, there are two additional tax rates: 5% and 0%. These apply only to specific items or types of services.

Does your business work only with products or services that fall under the zero-rated VAT in the UK? Or do you sell a selection of items that are zero-rated? In either case, there are important things to keep in mind when it comes to your invoicing.

In addition to these three VAT rates, there is another option: VAT-exempt. Some products and services are considered VAT-exempt. A business can also be considered VAT-exempt if it sells only VAT-exempt goods/services. In this case, they would not be eligible to register for VAT and would not submit VAT returns.

The name of your business is a key part of your brand and identity – it’s displayed on signs and paperwork, it’s promoted through your advertising and marketing, and it’s stated on all of your financial reports and tax returns.

When limited companies incorporate, they’re required to register an official name with Companies House; however, they also have the option of trading under another name. But why would your business use two different names, and what are the pros and cons of doing this? Here’s what you need to consider when using a trading name.

Now available in Debitoor: the flat rate scheme! Find out more about the flat rate VAT scheme and how it works in Debitoor:

Running a small business in the UK, there are many things to consider, to calculate, to evaluate. Once your business is over the VAT threshold, tax is one thing that is unavoidable. While it can cause headaches, there are easier ways to stay on top of tax and make your quarterly reporting (even under HMRC’s Making Tax Digital), just a little bit easier.

While there is a considerable amount of information available regarding HMRC’s new Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative, it can quickly become confusing for businesses that are required to now submit their VAT returns online with approved software.

For example, many businesses were not aware that it is necessary to sign up for MTD. Qualifying businesses are not automatically able to submit VAT returns online.

Businesses already working with HMRC-approved software also had the belief that this meant they were already signed up for MTD, or that by connecting through their current software, this would sign them up. This is not the case.

If you run a brick-and-mortar shop or set up a market stall on the weekends in the summer at your local markets, you’re likely already working with direct, face-to-face payments with your customers.

As a business, you need the right hardware and software to make the sales process fast and easy. A POS (Point of Sale) system refers to the cash register/computer/tablet/card reader that you use to register and accept payments.

If your business is a bit more mobile, it’s probable that you’re not porting around a bulky cash register but rather are making use of one of the significantly more convenient card readers that make it easy to accept payments from anywhere.