What You Need To Know In Becoming Self-Employed

General December 31st, 2009

A lot of people daydream on having their own company and be their own boss. Creating a small or large business would also add to the decrease of unemployment and increase the country’s revenues. The entire economic system is based on the free market system where small and big businesses are the lifeblood.

With today’s volatile economy, many of us have been obligated to save money and a lot are hopeful that the money they have set aside will be possible assets towards them becoming entrepreneurs.

While people dream of becoming a self-sufficient businessman or businesswoman, a lot of them also don’t know where to begin.
From how much funds is needed to tax burdens are just a few of the things to consider when opening up a business.

Big things start as a small thing. Starting at a small pace is always better than rushing it. In business, it is best to think things over because what you carry out at present will influence what you will do and get in the future.

One way of becoming self-employed is to establish an unincorporated business. Instances of unincorporated business are sole proprietorship, partnership and family trust.

The person who owns the business is the business in an unincorporated business. Just like any other, paying your taxes depends on your annual profit. The total profit you will earn is from the sales you made minus the allowable business expenditures.

Self assessment is a crucial habit in filing your tax returns.

For common employees and workers, chances are you do not fill out any tax return paper each tax year given that your employer’s accountant/s before now do it for you.

This method is known as Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and employees just have to sit back and wait for their tax-deducted pay each month.

complete a tax return every year. Income and capital gains are mandatory to be written down in a tax return so that the Inland revenue could calculate how much you should be paying on your tax bill.

Aside from taxes, self-employed persons also need to put in to two types of National Insurance. These are Class 2 and Class 4 contributions.

Class 2 contributions have a £2.40 rate per week and are usually remunerated monthly or quarterly. You can be exempted if you are certain that your profit for the year will be under £5,075 which is accepted as grounds for lesser earnings.

Class 4 contribution has an 8% rate if your annual profit is between £5,715 and £43,875. An additional 1% will too be charged if you exceed £43,875 and will be part of the January 31 self-assessment form.

A penalty is charged if you are late on paying your tax bill. Hire an accountant if you’re not sure what to do.

Lastly, if there are benefits in being self-employed, there are also risks.

If the business runs to the ground, the owner’s creditor/s can seek payment from the his/her personal assets (if any) or can even demand his/her real property. This risk can have less impact if the proprietor doesn’t have debts.

For partnership, you or your partner/s are held accountable if one of you have incurred debts. In short, you will answer for your partner’s debt within the business even if you have none.

Cool Gifts for the Cat Lover

General December 31st, 2009

Are you shopping for your cat loving friend, neighbor, or family member, and need some ideas of what to buy? There are many gifts you can get for the Cat Lover in your life, and you can even find gifts online that can be shipped within a few days. Just wait until the recipient opens the gift you buy once you find the right one for that person.

Please read further for cat lover’s gift giving ideas.

Some cat lovers like to receive calendars, greeting cards, framed pictures, scrapbooks and other published arts or graphics, especially if they include pictures of their very own cat. They also would like cat figurines, and subscriptions to various cat magazines or gift certificates to a local pet store.

When deciding to give a gift to a cat lover, be sure to find out what kind of cat that person has, or to take pictures of the cat if you already know. This may take some planning on your part. For instance, you may have to think of an excuse (such as your friend’s kid’s birthday, or a holiday) to go over to your friend’s house, and to take pictures of that cat. You want to make sure you plan the picture taking in a way that is natural, and does not bring suspicion on the part of the cat owner. You would not want to ruin the surprise right?

Then, you can either take the pictures in to get developed by a professional, or develop the pictures yourself if you have a computer. If you have some artistic ability, you will be able to create a beautiful framed piece of art for the cat owner to hang on his or her wall, or a decorative scrapbook for that person to place on a coffee table. Either that or you can buy already made frames, or have someone make a work of art for you to give to your friend or family member, the cat lover.

The person who receives this gift will be most overjoyed, and will be grateful that you appreciate that person’s love for cats. Another example of a gift to give a cat lover would be to buy that person a subscription to a magazine such as Cat Fancy. This magazine tells cat lovers everything they would want to know about cats, such as various breeds, grooming techniques, the best cat toys to buy and more. This magazine also has cat lover’s stories to tell, as well as health information about various feline pets.

The list of gifts to buy for a cat lover does not stop there, however. You can also buy cat themed clothing, personalized cat (and photo) doormats, and decorative chalkboards. You can also buy for your cat lover a personalized cat photo blanket, or a piece of rhinestone jewelry that says “I love cats” on it. Furthermore, there is a huge selection of catlike style crystal figurines and real life models of a wide variety of cat breeds.

Other cat lover’s gifts would be great for the kitchen, such as paw print pet treat jars and hand painted mugs, and even dinnerware. You may also find refrigerator magnets and kitchen rugs with cat decorations on them.

For the cat lover’s car there is the license plate cover that can include a saying on it such as I love cats, and have little kitten decorations surrounding its border. Furthermore, you can buy for the cat lover a suction cup cat that would stick to any car window, or “I love cat” bumpers stickers.

There is virtually no end to the amount of gifts available for you to choose from for any cat loving individual. Along with that, is the fact that you are sure to find from amongst the many different gifts displayed online one that is within your price range.

Please feel free to browse this site and others for these and other great gift giving ideas. The cat loving individual in your life will appreciate your thoughtfulness upon receiving one of these find gifts from you.

If you have more than one cat lover to purchase a gift for, feel free to check back periodically for new and different gift giving ideas.

About the Author: Josh Hayes is the webmaster of several websites. His newest site is www.wordtemplateguru.com. If you are interested in a business card word template or a resume word template you should check out the website.