It's not really something we want to be discussing at Christmas time, however,
this is the monster over the hill guys. MPD is coming for us in April 2026 and we have to get
this cloud accounting software locked in to our businesses now. We need to get it
locked in in advance before this rolls out April 2026. You know that I've been banging that digital
drum for many years inside Trout Hall community and like a stuck record when it comes to, you know,
adding digital systems into your business, the world's going digital has gone digital,
an HMRC of following suit. So what is it? What is M.T.D? We've heard the phrase
being thrown around a lot. M.T.D is coming, M.T.D. What is it? Make tax digital is what it stands for.
Essentially, HMRC are digitising the tax system. Okay, so in this guide today, what I'm hoping I can
do for you is basically give you a bit of an overview of what it is and listen, I'm not an
accountant, I'm not a tax expert, I'm a spread like you. But since launching the coaching group,
the tribe, a few years ago, I'm trying to kind of keep my finger on the pulse for years,
keep my ear to the ground and anticipate this kind of stuff that we have to deal with in our
business. Okay, so I've done a bit of research, we've got a good amount of information for years,
this affects me as well. And again, anybody that's self employed, nobody's safe from M.T.D.
If you're a VAT registered company, you'll already know that this was introduced in the way of VAT
recently. I think it was a couple years back. So the lads that are VAT registered should
know a little bit on this already. However, now they're coming after the self employed,
the sole trader, the landlords. And soon they will be coming after limited companies too,
in the way of corporation tax, they're going to come after you lads too. So all of us are going
to need to understand and get our heads around M.T.D. We're going to have to learn it guys,
we're going to have to understand it because it's going to affect all of us. Okay, if you're a sole
trader, plus draw up till now, we've only had to submit one report per year, one report, which is the
self assessment tax return. That's what we've always known, that's what we've always done.
And that in itself is an absolute bore lake sometimes, and stressful and can be overwhelming
hard enough. Just doing one report. What M.T.D. means for us is we're going to be going from doing
one report per year to five reports per year. So we're going to have to submit quarterly submissions
guys throughout the year in digital form. So we can't do manual entry anymore. We can't do,
you know, pen and paper stuff anymore. We have to start keeping digital financial records,
essentially, it's what we're doing. So that's it in a nutshell. HMRC, you're going digital,
they want four submissions from us per year plus the end of year submission
tax return that we'd normally do, we still have to do that as well. So total in five.
So we're going from one to five. That's the big change. And they're going to kind of
roll this out in stages. Let me just turn that music down a little bit lads.
I'll turn that music down a little bit.
That's better. Should I have a slurp of coffee? Listen, if you happen to be up and about, I know
that many lads are going to be on the tools today, you know, trying to hit them deadlines before
Christmas. But if you've got half an hour, get your ears around this and, you know, feel free to
join the chat as well. If you've got any questions, like I say, I'm no tax expert, but I might be able
to signpost you to the right information that you need for your situation, hopefully. And if I can't
do it live now, I'll get the information for you at some point. Good morning, Chris Ball. I hope
you are. Good morning, Jordan Lowe. And the other boys that I've jumped in on trial talk.
Again, if you're up and about, you've got any questions you want to get involved for?
If anybody's got any thoughts, struggles in this area. I have got a few issues with the chat box
on the tribe. I'm trying to run the chat through both groups. But if there's a bit of a lag,
I do apologize. So the changes I've highlighted there and outlined for you.
And the changes that are coming. And if you earn £50,000
or more, and this is gross income, this is your sales, this is your turnover.
If you turn over £50,000 or more, you're going to be pulled into MTD automatically.
But that doesn't mean I don't need to panic if I'm not turning over that kind of money.
Everything's going to be all right. I'll stay as I am. No, that's not the case because in April
2027, they're going to drop this to £30,000. In 2028, between 2028 and 2029, they're going to drop
again the £20,000. Essentially, what they're trying to do
is digitize every single self-employed person and get them
submitting financial records digitally through HMRC. That's the big change.
My £50,000 is the kind of first starting point and they're going to stage it
over the next few years and no one's safe. That's why we need to get on with this now.
And if you're an old school spread, that kind of burying your head in the stand and refusing to
look at anything digital because it might overwhelm you and you might just be one of
them old school type of spreads that it's just too overwhelming and you don't know where to start
with it, then listen, you ain't got a choice anymore. We have to embrace these digital platforms.
Cloud software accounting is what we need to do and that mandatory,
this mandatory, we can't do manual entry anymore. The sole traders switch to keeping
digital financial records and send quarterly updates to HMRC and then that's what it is.
And we've got to do that using approved software instead of filing one annual tax return.
All right.
And let's be clear as well. HMRC are not doing this to help us to be more efficient and more
organized. And that's how it's being kind of framed in the media. It's being kind of framed as all
positive and progressive. HMRC just want to help the working man. Yeah, okay. The reality is guys,
is HMRC are forecasted that by 2030, MTD across all their means of MTD could potentially generate
another £2 billion impact revenue by 2030. So we know what this is. They're looking to close the
tax gap as they call it. They're looking to fleece us as much as they can.
And obviously that's worrying and it's scary. But the other side of the coin, the flip side of the
coin is if we're forced to now keep digital financial records in our businesses,
then we need to make the most of that and turn this to work in our favor. I'm not saying this is a
positive and happy thing that's happening because it's not. But what we need to do
is understand it, get a grip of it, get this set up early doors and make this work in our favor.
That's what we need to be doing with MTD, not being scared of it and bearing our head in the
sand and leaving it to you. Last minute, that's the worst thing we can do. That's the worst thing we
can do. I spoke to a couple of different accountants on this topic now. And they've both told me that
where they think HMRC are going to be getting their money from isn't necessarily through
small business owners paying more tax, not necessarily, although some will no doubt.
Where they're going to get their money, guys, is through fines. So if we have to submit
quarterly reports to HMRC and we drop the balls and we miss the deadline,
we've heard down the grapevine that we could be looking at £200 fine per missed deadline.
Now you add that up over thousands and thousands of self-employed people that are no doubt
going to be dropping balls. We're flat out, we're busy, we're working long hours.
We can't always have the time to do one submission per year. That's stressful enough,
like I said earlier, but now we're expected to do five.
It goes without saying that many self-employed people are going to be
dropping the balls and missing these deadlines and that's where HMRC are going to come in and
generate money through fines. So I think they're going to be creaming in a lot through fines and
mispayments mostly. But it doesn't necessarily mean, but in short, MTD doesn't necessarily mean
that as sole traders and plus truth that we're going to be paying more tax, it just means that
we've got a report more often. We still only pay tax once a year, as usual.
It means we've got to send figures to HMRC four times a year instead of one big return basically.
So these are like updates, not tax bills. The final tax bill is still worked out at the end of the year.
So what are the first steps we need to take to make sure that we're prepped and ready, locked
and loaded for when this happens in April? The first thing we need to do then is check
our income levels. Some of us have got a good grip on our bookkeeping, our income, we know what's
happening. Most of us haven't. If I'm going off the guys that I've been coaching the last few years,
most of us have not got a good grip on our finances. We don't know what the fuck is going on half the
time. So we need to get a closer grip and a control over the ins and outs financially in our business.
So we've got to check our income levels. What have we earned in the last tax year
when it comes to sales? And again, this isn't profit. This is just what you've turned over.
Sales. What have we sold? What have we turned over? So if it's £50,000 or more, it's MTD time.
And again, even if it's not and it's lower than that next year, they're dropping it to £30K.
So that's the first thing we need to do is check our income levels and see if we do indeed
need to implement the software needed for MTD. We'll come on to that as well.
We'll come on to the digital side of it soon. And I'll walk you through some of the apps and the
software that we need to use. It's got to be compatible software guys as well.
Right. So number two, then we need to set up a government gateway account.
If you're brand new to self employment, I've got a couple of lads in the tribe
who are on the verge of going self employed. So they're considering going self employed.
They're not self employed yet, but they can consider in going self employed. And for these guys,
they haven't got a government gateway account or a UTI number. So if most of us that are self
employed, we've been self employed for a while, we're already going to have the UTI number,
the government gateway account all set up because we'll be used to using that to pay our
tax return to submit our information to HMRC. But if you're thinking of going self employed,
or you've just gone self employed, then you need to get this set up guys in order to
submit your MTD quarterly submissions. And then the third thing is you've got to now decide,
are you going to handle this yourself and try and do it yourself? Or are you going to work with your
accountant to do it? And it's worth mentioning your accountant fees are probably going to go up.
No doubt, because it's four times, it's five times, it's five. And although this is
done digitally, and a lot of it is going to be automated and automatic,
the accountant still has to submit the information. So it's more work his end or her end.
So naturally, their costs, their fee, the bill is going to increase. So talk to your accountant
about that. Personally, for me, I'll be using an accountant. And I'll explain what I've set up and
how I've set that up. During this guide for you, I'm going to turn that Wi-Fi off.
Bear with.
Okay, bit of a lag on the internet guys, I apologize if I'm a bit jerky this morning.
Could be that I've not had enough caffeine as well.
Listen, while I'm on this live stream as well, I just want to give a big shout out to Lee Fury.
And you're doing a top job of the Christmas raffle, mate, the countdown to Christmas. And it's
much appreciated. I hope everybody's enjoying that. And if you don't know what I'm talking about,
and you've missed it, I'm sure you've seen it. Lee's giving away prizes each day up till Christmas.
So catch his post, jump in, comment, like, share, go join his group as well.
Spread the love as he says, and share the Christmas spirit. And there's a lot of prizes
being given away. We've also got the tribe Christmas hamper. You've probably seen me share that
yesterday. We've got a box of goodies, courtesy of Raphina Tools. One lucky tribe member will
win that next week. So I'm going to be revealing the winner next week. And if you jump back into
trial talk on the main feed, you'll be able to see what you get inside the box. So I just wanted to
do that, mention that. And there's a couple of changes coming inside the tribe, the tribe lads.
We've got some group mentors being introduced to 2026. These are the guys that started at the very
bottom. They joined a couple years back. For example, Josh Parker, Dan Bunts, I'm going to introduce a
couple of other lads as well, to help with the mentoring. But in a nutshell, these lads joined
a couple years back because they were paying heavily for leads, my builder, checker trade.
They joined because they wanted to bin these platforms off and be self-sufficient and organic.
And they've managed now to completely eliminate paid paid ads and memberships with these
lead generation companies. So they're completely organic, self-sufficient. And they've got website
pages locked in. They're ranking first on Google Business Profile. They've got video content that
they do across multiple platforms. They've got automation set up. They've essentially done
99% of the trainings inside the tribe. And now they're in a strong position. And they're kind of
at the other end of the training now. And they're doing really well. So for these reasons, I've
sort of cherry picked these guys to be an inspiration and a mentor to the new lads that are joining,
to show them, look, listen, this works. I've gone from this to this. And here's how I can help you.
So rather than me just sort of banging the drum and showing them examples from my own business,
I can use these lads now as examples in their businesses of what they've built and what they've
done. So that's going to be rolling out 2026 mentorships inside the tribe. So that was worth a
mention. And by the way, if you are struggling with any of that, if you're low on work, if you're
overwhelmed, if you're just struggling in general, then the door's open for anybody listening to join
the tribe. It's 80p a day. It's one month free. You get your first month free at the minute
through December and January as well. There's no risk. You don't like it. You're not lost any money.
You get your money back. So the door's open and anyone's welcome to come join, poke their head in
and have a look around. Okay, so I just wanted to get that cleared up.
Let's get back into this then. Decide if you're going to handle this yourself or work with an
accountant. Most of us have got an accountant. If you haven't got an accountant set up, then
you're probably going to need an accountant when MTD creeps in because it's going to be too much
for the self-employed man, in my opinion, to be doing five submissions per year is too much.
Good morning, James Arathuna. Hope you're even well, mate. Good morning, Imad. Hope you're all good.
Got any questions, any thoughts on this tax topic? It's a boring topic. It's a horrible topic, but
we've got to get it on the table and we've got to unwrap it and unpack it and we've got to get our
heads around it and we have to do this in advance of this happening, not two days before. So what do
we need to do then? Let's get to the meat on the bone. What do we have to do in our businesses?
What changes do we have to make to prepare ourselves for MTD? Well, I've just said there,
you need a good accountant. That goes without saying, but we're going digital. So if you're not
digital right now, if you haven't got any cloud accounting software whatsoever,
then that's what you need to do. That's the big step you need to take is you need to implement
cloud accounting software in your business.
Try not to use it down a bit more. So my question to you, to the guys that are watching now live,
have you got any accounting software set up?
Have you got anything set up?
Now, I'm sharing on the screen with you guys, just a handful of popular apps that you've probably
heard of. Some of you watching now probably got one of these set up already. And if you have got
one of these set up already, MTD is going to be a lot less painful than for the lads that are still
in paper or doing manual entries, because you're pretty much 80% set up already if you've got this
locked in and you use this system because many of these apps, not just the ones that I'm sharing
on the screen, but many of these apps are MTD compatible. That means that they're already
streamlined and set up to work with HMRC and submit your MTD reports already. Not all of them are,
so we need to make sure we need to do our homework and we need to check before you go signing up
to these apps and subscribing and setting an account up. You need to check first,
is this app compatible with MTD? If it's not, choose one that is and I'll put a link in
to the comments section underneath this live stream and that will take you to a page where you can
go and search and check if they are MTD compatible or not. But obviously, the big ones like Zero,
QuickBooks, FreshBooks and Sage, the four that I'm sharing here on the screen, these are compatible
and many others are compatible too. So just check that, make sure.
And when it comes to signing up to these apps, speak to your bank because, for example, I've
just signed up with FreshBooks a few months ago and because I'm a Barclays business customer,
I've got this completely free. So if you've got a business account with a High Street Bank,
go and speak to them before you spend money. I mean, the prices aren't extravagant and this
will depend on the size of your business as well. It's going to depend on the size of your business.
Good morning, Chris Hughes. I hope you're keeping well, mate. So Zero, for example, starts at £16
a month, goes up to £60 a month, QuickBooks starts at £10 a month, up to £115 a month.
Obviously, we're not going to be spending that unless we've got a, maybe we've got somebody
in the office that helps us and lads out in the field. So if you're a larger business with a team,
then some of these apps can work for larger companies. But if a sole trader is all one or
two months set up, so we're going to be looking at anywhere between £10 and £20 a month, something
like that. However, this is software that we have to run indefinitely, year in and year out,
for a long, long period of time. So if we can get it heavily discounted through our banks,
or if we can get it for free, then let's get it done. How you doing, Duncan? Lynn,
I hope you're keeping well, mate. And you've got a nice break coming up next week, back in the
next week, to spend with the family. Dan says he's got, I've got Zero, but Flock knows how to use it.
He set this up earlier in the year. Mate, they're not simple and easy to use. Neither is
FreshBooks, if I'm completely honest. And listen, we're already time poor because we're self-employed.
You know what the message is in the tribe. I try to automate everything and get everything working
fast, easy, and in most situations for free, because we're so busy. So we need systems that are
fast, quick, simple, and don't take, and it's not too much of a time drain, basically. So
I know exactly what you're saying. I don't know how to use all of the options in FreshBooks.
Essentially, what I've done with FreshBooks is I've created an account and then I've connected
my business account bank feed into FreshBooks. And then I've given my account an access
to dip in and out of FreshBooks whenever he wants. Now, that took me like a couple of hours
to set all that up. I can't say it was completely simple because it wasn't so,
but it depends what you like with tech. You know, some lads are brilliant with this kind of thing,
and they can do it in 10 minutes. So the lads, they're going to need help. They're going to need
their misses or their accountant to help them set all this stuff up. So
there's no shame in this. If it's something you struggle with, then you reach out and you just
get the people around you that can do it. It's not like you have to sit there banging your head
against the wall. We just bring in the people to help us do it, guys. Good morning. Glenn
Daly, hope you are, mate. Bringing the people to help you, bringing your accountant, bringing the
misses or bringing the brother-in-law, whoever it is in your circle, that is pretty good with tech,
and they're quite savvy with this kind of stuff. Then just bring them in. Get them to sit with you
on the laptop for an hour on a Saturday morning and get them to help you set everything up,
and you'll get it sorted. Now, these apps, again, this is mandatory stuff. We ain't got a choice.
We ain't got a choice with it lads anymore. We've had a choice up till now, you know, can carry on
working in the Stone Ages with pen and paper and doing these manual submissions, but now we
haven't got a choice. You have to have this accounting software locked in. It's mandatory. Hence why I'm
doing this guide for you. But again, check to make sure whoever you use, whether it's zero,
QuickBooks, whoever it is, make sure that they're MTD compatible, basically. Again, I've got some
information here for you that I managed to pull offline last night. Go to your bank first.
Even if you're a sole trader and you're running your business through a current account, which is
completely illegal, many high street banks will allow this, no, no drums at all for your sole
trader. Different situation if you limited, you need a business account. But NatWest, for example,
they do an app called Free Agent. Free Agent is MTD compatible. I did check that.
That's free. Okay. Virgin Money, they do heavily discounted subscription on zero.
I mentioned Barclays do FreshBooks. So I've got FreshBooks set up for nothing. That's free.
Lloyds do an app called BFA. These are just four examples, guys.
These are just four examples that I pulled last night. Business Finance Assist, it's called.
Again, heavily discounted or completely free through your bank. So
get in touch with your bank. Have a chat with them. See if there's anything they can do in the
way of discount or maybe try and get something set up for free so that when you're moving forward,
as the years pass, obviously, if you're paying £60 a month for five years, that's a lot of money,
isn't it? So if we can get the price down, you can also use digital spreadsheets.
But I mean, who's got the time for this when you're on the tools on the trial?
Like I say, some lads are going to be savvy in this area. And while on top of things,
most of us are not. Most of us are going to struggle. Most of us are going to struggle. So
let's go back to these steps again and I'll reiterate it again for you.
The first hit is April. Okay, so 6th of April to the 5th of July. That's the first one.
And this is more information for your accountant, like I say, unless you're going to sit down and
be doing this yourself online through your apps. I wouldn't recommend it, if I'm honest.
You know, they're called tax advisors for a reason and they're the experts, aren't they?
That's what they're there for. We're going to save money long term. We're probably going to
save more money paying them. Because it means obviously less, we're getting spanked less
on tax. So pay the accountant what they ask for. I never question my accountant's bill.
I just say what's the bill, you know, and that's it. Because he sorts all this out.
So the first one is between 6th of April, 5th of July, 2026. The next submission will be
July 6th of July to the 5th of October, 3rd one, 6th of October to the 5th of January,
and then 2027, 4th quarter, 4th of January, 2027. And that'll be, and then there's the,
of course, the end of January, 2027 will be, you know, where you put your final
submission in. But I mean, I don't know if they still call it a return, tax return,
or if they changed it all up, but essentially it's the same thing. And that'll be where
you'll get, you know, assessed on what you owe. So they don't, they don't sort of look at each
submission over the years. They write you owe this now in April, you owe this now in July.
It's, it's just a snapshot for HMRC to look into your ins and outs of your business, basically.
And we know what it's like I said earlier, it's going to be the fines that trip us up.
And it's going to be the fines that HMRC make their money on, isn't it?
£200 a pop. And you add that up over how many self-employed people are going to drop the balls.
You're talking millions of pounds in fine money. So again, if we can get the software
set up properly, we get a good accountant, most of us have already got a good accountant,
in a way. We get those two, two boxes ticked. We can take our foot off the gas a little bit
and leave it to them. You know, we still have to be on the ball. We still have to be making sure
that we've got a firm grip and we're clued up on what we're doing. But the accountant and the
software should do all the heavy lifting for us guys. And like I said earlier, it doesn't
necessarily mean that you're going to be spanked for more tax, not necessarily,
not necessarily. And I want to come on to expenses, because I think a lot of us are under
declaring. I think a lot of us are mixing personal income with business income. And if we do that,
if we operate like that, we're going to be paying too much tax. So we'll talk about that briefly.
Good morning, Antony. I hope you're all good, buddy.
Antony Walton says that he's with Monzo. He's got a business account with Monzo.
I think they have a built-in tax system. I haven't looked into it yet, but I'll check.
Yeah, go and check, mate. I didn't look at Monzo for monies to look to. Last night, I
seen that NatWest do a free one, Virgin Money, Barkers and Lloyds. But you know, phone them,
go on the app, see if there's any options there, type in MTD in the search bar on your banking apps,
lads, see if anything pops up. And like I said before, before you start setting up this software,
just make sure it is MTD compatible. Good morning, Lee Fiori. Hope you're all good,
mate. I'll give you a plug earlier. And a big thanks for what you're doing inside the groups.
Hats off, buddy. I know that must take a lot of your time to do that, which is appreciated.
I'm sure if you want to appreciate what you're doing.
Lee says that he uses zero. It's £30 a month,
unless you go up a tier to projects. I'm not sure about zero, mate, but
and he says that's an extra £5.
Yeah, so £30. I mean, and Lee, you know, I think Lee's got a staff member as well that he
you know, that he has in his business. So for £30, I'm sure that easily is covered.
But like I say, if you're stepping into self-improvement or you're a sole trader,
and you know, that 30 quid, if it can be shrunk to £10 or £15, like I say, it seems like we're
talking silly numbers, and it's not not much money. But because this is software that we have to run
indefinitely, indefinitely, you know, we could be running software for two decades.
So I no doubt they're going to creep prices up at some point.
And of course, it's all going to add up, isn't it? And it is tax deductible, of course,
but we need to keep hold of that precious capital, don't we? So if we can get it for free or get it
cheaper, then let's try and get it set up. And just like your curiosity, Lee, is that 30
pundit through your bank business bank deal? Or is that just you've just gone direct to zero?
Be good to clarify that, mate.
Something I found out this year says, Lee, is that deposits carried over are not taxable.
100%. And my accountant made me aware of this about 18 months ago. And you're 100% correct.
And I'm glad you bought that up Lee. That's an important point. So guys, if we're taking deposits,
if we're taking job deposits, okay, that's not necessarily classed as income.
Because as Lee's just highlighted there, these deposits are refundable. If the customer pulls the
wriggle, the moon walks out of the agreement. So just because you've took a hefty job deposit,
that doesn't necessarily mean that's going to be now classed as business income in that time period
within that quarter. So like Lee's just said, it could be carried over. So keep that in mind as well,
but we'll come onto expenses in a minute. I've only got one screen, so it's a bit.
I'm just sort of spinning plates with the comment box. So bear with
Steve Broderick. How you doing, mate? How you keeping well? He's got a styling business account.
They offer a business toolkit for an extra £7 a month. But I don't need that as I've got QuickBooks.
Sounds good. I'm not sure whether that styling business account toolkit is MTD compatible,
but it'd be worth finding that information out because if that's seven quid a month,
I've done it. What's QuickBooks? Let's go back on to where QuickBooks was.
Well, to be fair, QuickBooks is a tenor a month, so there's not much difference, is it?
But yeah, I'd be interested to know whether that toolkit you mentioned is indeed MTD compatible or not.
He says, my accountant put me onto QuickBooks a few years ago for free.
I'm sure he'll have deals with accounting software. Good shout. Yeah, speak to your
accountants as well as speaking to your banks. Again, I'm not a tax expert and I'm not an accountant,
but I think how some accountants are going to work is they'll have their own systems locked in
already of what they use. So whatever we set up, they're going to take the information and
fire it across into their own software and then submit it that way.
Just to mention, guys, the bank feed is not mandatory. I found that information out four
years last night as well. So the bank feed, because obviously there's a big worry now,
but HMRC, they're going to have full access straight into my bank account.
What's mandatory is the accounting software, not your bank feed.
So you don't have to have your bank linked with the software is what I'm saying. You can still
do manual entry into the software, but of course, that's going to be an absolute pig.
It's going to be a baller to do that. Who's got the time to do that? So most of us will be running
a feed into the software, but however you do it is down to you and you'd have to decide how much
time have you gotten, how much help do you need basically? Now let's jump into the,
got some notes here for you. Let's talk about expenses for a minute.
Like I said earlier, most lads are under declaring, under claiming, under declaring,
under claiming on expenses. So if we've not got a grip on the ins and outs on our business,
that's where we can drop the balls and we're not including everything that we need to include.
When we put in these quarterly submissions in, and of course,
if HMRC doesn't see an expense, then the balance could be categorized as profit,
and that's going to mean higher tax. So the common sense stuff we need to do,
maybe it's probably not common sense if you're new to self-employment, or you're considering
self-employment 2026, it's probably not common sense, but the lads that have been running their
own show for many years, you know already what you can put down as an expense, but you just throw
everything you can in would be my advice. Throw everything in, including the kitchen sink,
materials, obviously, fuel, okay, any new tools that you've bought,
have you bought a new van, have you had your van repaired? Believe it or not, I've spoke to a guy
off trial talk a couple months ago, and he had a new turbo fitted. Oh, I didn't put that through,
why not? Anything that your van costs, anything, tires, MOTs, insurance,
sign writing, you buy a new roof rack, excuse me, you buy a new roof rack, that gets thrown through,
anything, anything to do with your van, you have to run it through your phone.
Are you using your kitchen table to do your admin at home, that's office time,
isn't it? That's a portion of that you're using for your business, so you're using internet at home,
that can be used, you know, as an expense, it's legit, because you are using it, your internet,
and PPE, for the site lads, if you're having to buy boots every six months, high visors, hard
ads, gloves, masks, what you know, eye protection, if you're having to invest and buy all this shit
yourself, it's tax deductible guys, and any training, any training, loads of lads have done
Lee's course and the corkshole course, they've done my course, they've done IWI training courses,
they've done, you know, they've done thing code render and spray render training courses, are
you running it through lads, are you putting it through? Off the tools training, business training,
the tribe membership, run it through, run everything through, because it's business expense,
any kind of training you've had run it through, I mentioned your accountants, your accountant fees
are going to go up, because you're going from one submission to five submissions a year, so if your
accountant fees are going up, that's an expense, that's a business expense, that can be tax deductible,
so whatever your accountant bill is, throw that back in, that'll go against your tax bill as well,
if I've missed anything, just running these off, hit the comments, you know, what are your thoughts on
this? Have you been caught out in the past? Have you managed to get your tax bill down?
Significantly, the self-employed lads that have been going a long time offer down your tips and
your comments to the new self-employed lads that are coming up, help them, give them advice and tips,
because it's one of the most stressful and hardest things we have to do with self-employed people,
is have the pressure and stress of tax, and there's this sort of stigma and a couple comments come in
last week, you know, are you self-employed lads, creaming it in, you know, you're all minted,
you know, all the cash that you take, you know, joking aside,
and if you can get through the injuries and still put bread on the table for your kids,
if you can get through the bad weather and still bring in a half decent income over the 12 months
that we've had to, you know, go and kill something, drag it back home and feed the family,
if you can survive the weather, especially if you're external, if you can survive your van blowing up,
if you can survive customers messing you around,
canceling jobs, paying you late, paying you when they decide to pay on their terms,
if you can, you know, survive all this stress, not knowing where your next meal's coming from,
if you can survive all this and you get to the end, and you've still managed to feed your family
and bank a little bit for yourself, and you've got a good attitude,
then take that off to you, because self-employment is no joke, and we all have a bit of a laugh and a
joke, oh, it's self-employed tradespeople, you know, they're creaming it in, they don't pay tax,
they've got all this cash, like, let's get realistic, if someone's bank, if someone's stuffing a load
of notes in the mattress, who's paying the gas bill? How are you paying for things?
Look, the reality is, people are not, if you're a working man, okay, and you've managed to keep
your business going for one year, two years, three years, four years, five years, six years,
you're raising a family, you've got all these expenses, you're not going to be able to pay
cash for everything, okay, it's common sense, so let's try and change the perception of tradespeople,
that we've got all this cash stuffed around in the house, and we pay for everything in cash,
you know, might have been the case fucking 30 years ago, but not anymore, everything's digital,
it's been that way for a long time, and it's difficult, and it's hard, so if you've managed to
survive it, and you bring a little bit back to the family, now we're getting hit with MTD, so
we've got to become even more resilient to this, we're getting hit, but there's something else
coming at us each year, isn't there, and this, and now it's MTD, so, but if we can survive all that
shit, then we can survive this as well, and we can keep going and being successful, and like I said
before, we don't want to go self-employed just to keep our nose above water and survive, do we?
What's the point, might as well go and get a job, if that's the case, we want to be
in a strong position where we feel, you know, we're in control of things,
we get to, the reason we go self-employed is so we get to pick and choose where we work, who we work
for, how much we earn, the hours, the flexibility that it offers us,
the pride that we get, and the control we get over our own working life, you know, my son had his
nativity play this week, I dropped the tools and went and watched it, I can do that, I can choose
to do that, I'm self-employed, I could never do that if I had a job, I'd have to go begging to my boss,
I'll please, could I have two hours off, you know, I don't want to be in that position, again, I'm
probably unemployable at this point, I've been self-employed too long, so, but this kind of
shit does put you off, you know, I'm not going to deny that, there's a lot of anger response to MTD,
I've seen in the comments, people talking about quitting, throwing the towel and walking away
from their business, the government have just pushed them to their limits and making it harder
and harder for the working man, rewarding lazy people, people that don't want to work
and whipping and punishing the working man all the time, so I understand the frustration,
but we also have to look at the positives and the reasons we went self-employed in the first place
and what it gives us and what it brings to us and what it does for us, so I wanted to pump
you up because I don't want to see people quitting, you know, hanging their trial up and walking away
just because they've got to submit a few more submissions over the year, so we need to
be prepared, if you can get prepared, speak to your accountant, lock in this software,
you're done, that's all you need to do and maybe we could look at this as an opportunity to become
more efficient, more organized, get a grip of our bookkeeping finally because if you're one of
them spreads that have spent years with your head buried in the sand and ignoring this problem
in your business, not knowing the numbers, not knowing where you're at, not understanding
the bookkeeping side of things and the cash flow side of things and the record keeping side of
things, then maybe this is the push you need, the nudge you need to make changes in your business and
get a grip, if you understand something it's no longer stressful,
it's when we don't understand what, how does this work, what is this,
that's when it's stressful because we don't understand it, so like I say, this could be a
positive as well, it's not necessarily a negative unless you get spanked for the fines and you leave
everything till last minute and then it's going to be hard for you, it's going to be painful, so
but please offer down your thoughts and let me know if you've got any feedback for me, we're
creeping into an hour now guys, I said this would probably be like 45 minutes, so I'm just going
to hit the comments box to see if there's any feedback on any of this.
And again these quarterly updates guys, they're rough snapshots for HMRC,
they don't include everything like you know year end adjustments,
it's not like HMRC are going to come and chase us after each,
after each submission, so it's the final declaration that matters okay,
and if you haven't got an accountant by the way and you're looking you know who shall I use if you
you're coming into self-employment then just make sure my advice would be go to one that has experience
of construction and trades, sole traders, but mostly trades lads you know they've got a good
understanding, they've got a good understanding on your allowable expenses of what I've just
mentioned some of the things there, someone that can help you stay compliant but without overpaying.
And I said before a good accountant will save you more than they cost.
The lads that will get caught out again, if you don't track your expenses, if you rush your
submissions, if you're putting guesstimates through, you're guessing your figures or you're ignoring it,
these lads are going to struggle basically.
Anyway listen I hope that's been insightful for you, it's not a fun topic especially at Christmas
time, it's not a fun topic but it's a topic we have to get our heads around and we have to understand.
Zero and QuickBooks by the way are compatible also with your trade base and as you know your trade
base is our sponsor inside the tribe, what is it? Okay so your trade base is not cloud
accounting software, your trade base is a CRM system and if you don't know what one of them is,
drop me a message, I'll explain what it is. But while we're on the topic of being organized and
being on top of our business, I'll end with the CRM because if you're going to go
implementing accounting software, which you have to do now, no choice, then maybe it's time for you
to have a CRM because a CRM will connect and work together with your accounting software.
A CRM is not accounting software and accounting software is not a CRM.
Oftentimes I'll speak to lads and they'll say I don't need a CRM, I've got zero and I'll say does
it do email follow-ups to your customers and does it capture job images and does it capture text
message feeds and does it organize your calendar for you and all this? I don't think it does all
that, no, I think it's just invoices. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe some of them might do it. But what
I'm saying is if you're going to go digital, then go fully digital would be my advice because where I
see lads dropping the balls in their business isn't just with the bookkeeping and the submitting of
the invoices and the tax situation, it's forgetting to follow up with customers, it's forgetting to
send the quote, it's losing customer information that I see a lot. It's forgetting about the inquiry
that come in. It's writing people's contact number down on the back of a sandwich packet and then
losing the sandwich packet and forgetting to follow up. It's having bits of customer information
across Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, text message, sometimes it's on a voicemail on your phone,
sometimes it's written down, sometimes it's a recommendation from a neighbour, oh so and so
once a quote, so you've got all this information is lost and scattered across all these different
apps and platforms, some of them digital, some of them physical and that's what fries our brain
because we're trying to think oh what time was I supposed to go and look at that job for Mrs Smith,
where's that bit of paper, did she send me the message on WhatsApp or was it on Facebook,
did she text me or was it an email, can't remember now, so then we're going back and we're sifting
through which is stressful trying to find customer information and agreements and arrangements that
we've made because we can't remember or we can't remember what we quoted and the customer's saying
oh you said you'd do this, oh did I, oh I'm not sure and then you go along with it, if we had that
bullet pointed and recorded inside a CRM we could just pull that up on our phone, so oh yeah I did
say that I'd patch up the bathroom ceiling, you're right, you know not everybody's got a brilliant
mathematical memory and can remember everything, most of us can't, so that's why we need a reliable
system that can help us to keep track of our business because there's a lot of moving parts
when you're self-employed, it's not a case of turn up with your bucket and trial, slap it on,
you know get paid and go, if you're a domestic plasterer there's a lot of moving parts and a
lot of marketing sales admin, there's a lot of tooting and throwing with communications with
your customers and if we can make that process simple fast easy just by a couple of clicks on a
CRM system, I mean I've been using this now for like four years and it's been an absolute game
changer for me, every single day I use it every day, I'll finish a job, I'll sit in the van,
I'll ping the invoice across, I've normally taken 50% already, so the app will say
I'll type the customer's name into the app, it'll come up, Mrs Smith would you like to send the
invoice for the remaining balance, yes, it auto calculates what she owes, you know it auto generates
a nice invoice, press send then it says would you like to send a receipt, yes, it'll email,
it'll generate a nice neat receipt, email that across to her, it'll send follow-ups for the
customer review, it does everything, so it takes all of our thinking capacity, it basically does
the heavy lifting, so instead of all this information swimming around in our head and just trying to
remember a thousand different things, it just gets put into a machine and it does it for us and it
is kind of like having a little buddy, you know a little Jiminy cricket on your shoulder when you're
at work, then you can always rely on the CRM to remember what's coming next, what you need to do,
so again if you struggle with this kind of thing in your business and you find it hard staying
organised, keeping on top of your jobs and just keeping track of everything, I suggest you use
a CRM system and the one that we use inside the tribe is called your trade base, 50% off
2026 on your membership, so I think it's like 25 pound a month, get that for like 12 and a half
quid a month, so it's not something I've created myself, it's just something that I use
and I've got in touch with your trade base, I told them how great I think their app is
and we've been working together now for like 12 months, so listen if that's something you need help on
consider having a law cock and send you some more information on that if you're interested,
but there are some videos on trial talk as well guys,
so listen you have yourselves a fantastic Saturday, I hope that's been insightful four years,
I'll touch the comments a bit later on after I've had some brekkie and we'll come back and
if there's any information that I've missed I'll try to respond in the comment section below and
I'll put those links in for you as well, right have a cracking weekend and if I don't catch you
near the Christmas have an awesome Christmas as well and speak to you soon, cheers boys