Hi, I'm sure james will be along with better advice in a minute. you do need to have a business bank account. If you search the boards you'll find many discussions on which one to go to. As for account books for personal usage you dont need to do this. unless your purchase is relevant to your business what you spend your persoanl money on is your business. www.bluefinnevents.co.uk
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www.rpevents.co.uk - New site is LIVE!!!
www.craftybytes.co.uk

Hi Rachael, thanks for the reply - much appreciated. So mars bars only go in the books if they're for business purposes. [] Thanks again.

Rachael is quite correct, you only need to keep good records of your business expenses. A business bank account isn’t compulsory, but it makes life a lot easier in terms of identifying what is business and what is personal spend. Regards,
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James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk

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Your indispensable guide to Small Business Bookkeeping, Self-Assessment & VAT

Thank you for the confirmation James. [] Incidentally, I think I've accidentally signed up with two aliases, the other being "zarathustra" just to confuse things. James, I was interested in using your accounting services a few months ago, and now the time is coming to sign up for self-employment (likely to be the start of August), I was hoping to give you call some time in July to sort something out? Would that be okay? I believe you've just got back from your holidays? Trust they went well? []

I would be very pleased to hear from your directly to head you off in the right direction. + The holidays where great, thanks for asking.
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James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk

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Your indispensable guide to Small Business Bookkeeping, Self-Assessment & VAT

Excellent, I'll be in contact in a couple of weeks. [] Glad the holidays went well. I was about to say you've come home to some rather downcast weather, but now I look out my window it's blue skies and a few summery white clouds!

Another small query sprang to mind. If personal business if "personal" what happens if I want to sell off a few personal items now and again if I'm having a clear out - e.g. old books, instruments or computer say, and what happens about receiving money as presents from birthday's and Christmas time?

If you sell your own second hand goods this is not a "trade" and so you don’t need to worry, similarly money received as gifts etc is not taxable on you. However if a person bought items with the intention to sell these items on at a profit, this would be considered a "trade" and the income taxable. Regards,
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James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk

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Your indispensable guide to Small Business Bookkeeping, Self-Assessment & VAT

Thanks James. [] Gavin.