It's common for freelancers and small businesses to issue proforma invoices when the final details of a sale haven’t yet been confirmed. But, because there are fewer official guidelines for proforma invoices than for finalised invoices, it’s easy to get confused about what information should be included, when they can be used, and how they should handle VAT.

To make things clearer, this article takes a look at whether you should include VAT on your proforma invoices and whether proforma invoices are considered official documents for tax purposes.

Each April welcomes the start of a new tax year in the UK. As always, the new tax year means new tax rates and thresholds, many of which were announced in the 2018 Autumn budget.

Many of these changes have a big impact on business owners, freelancers, and the self-employed. So to help you understand how your business might be affected by the new tax year, we take a look at what's new for 2019-2020.

British politics can be confusing; from budgets to Brexit, there’s a lot to keep track of. To make things even more complicated, political decisions are made in a number of different places and can affect different parts of the UK.

While legislation has traditionally been passed in Westminster on behalf of the entire country, things are changing. Over the past few years, the British Government has transferred power away from the Houses of Parliament and towards national governments through a process known as devolution. The aim of devolution is to give Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland more control over their own affairs - including taxes.

In the first part of our tax guide, we covered what you'll need to be able to pay taxes, as well as how and when you'll pay them each year. For part two, we'll look at what a tax return is made up of- Income tax, Universal Social Charge, and Pay Related Social Insurance. We'll also touch on Tax Credits, and a little about VAT. So, diving in...

I know, I know - it isn't the most exciting of aspects when it comes to running a business, but unfortunately it has to be done.

As there’s a lot ot get into, this topic will be split into two parts. In this post we'll go over the criteria for filing a self assessment tax return (or in the few cases that you don’t need to), and the method for self-assessment.

If you already know how self assessment works, but want to find out a bit more about how it all comes together, then in Part 2 we’ll have a closer look at a breakdown of each tax component: Income, Universal Social Charge (USC), Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI), Value Added Tax (VAT), and about Tax Credits.

When you start a business, you take on a whole host of new responsibilities, including managing your company taxes. It's safe to say that this isn't the most exciting part of running a business, but it is important to take the time to understand the tax process.

The UK has many different taxes that could affect small businesses - some of which you’ll have definitely heard of and some that are more obscure. To make the tax process easier to understand, we explain some of the main taxes you’ll need to take into account as a freelancer or entrepreneur, and how they can be managed with invoicing software.

With plenty of promise and forewarning, HMRC will begin unveiling their new digital platform for individuals and small businesses this month.

The intention behind this initiative is to simplify the filing of tax in the UK, streamlining the process and providing a single platform for tax filing and information.

This new process has been touted as a modernisation of tax management. By providing individuals and businesses with their own online account, all information necessary for tax filing will now be saved and ready for filing.