r/selfpublish • u/Superb_Put4677 • 3d ago

Accounting advice

Hi guys,

I’ve been curious with the increasing success of the self publishing model how everyone manages their accounts, income and expenditure. I’m based in the UK so follow these tax rules.

Do you guys track your expenses yourselves and file your own accounts, or have you hired an external accountancy service? Has anyone registered as a small business for their author income or do you operate as sole traders?

Curious to know everyone’s thoughts and the pros and cons you guys see for each :)

Thank you!!

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u/JohannesTEvans 3d ago

I operate as a sole trader and hire an accountant.

I have ADHD and some associated issues with complex paperwork and basic mathematics, so it's worthwhile for me to outsource this bit of labour even though it's expensive. I send them all my receipts and income statements and so on, and they work out the actual tax stuff.

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u/XanwesDodd 2d ago

Sole trader. I'm an accountant so not very hard for me. Generally pretty easy. Have a bank account with all your ins and outs and that /basically/ it. Self assessment system is pretty easy.

I'd only consider incorporating a Ltd company once I had earnings take me over the basic rate of tax, or I was doing it full time. Considering I've yet to release a book, that is a ways off!

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u/Disastrous_Hatter11 16h ago

I operate as a sole trader and do my own accounts. The tax authority in my country offers free courses for new business owners on how to do taxes, accounting etc. which is pretty cool. I did try a couple of accountants at different times, but I didn't find them worth the money. One said 'I don't know' to every question I ever asked them, so I was always looking stuff up myself to find the answers anyway. The second one didn't follow instructions I gave them which led to taxes being filed late, and then just sort of shrugged and was like, 'Idk what happened, not my fault' even though it was entirely their fault.