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Becoming Self-Employed

Becoming Self-Employed

Supporting you to become a self-employed professional

If you are thinking about becoming a freelancer, contractor or self-employed professional, or you have already made the decision to go it alone, you are in the right place. At Brookson, our aim is to give you all the information you need to forge a successful career working for yourself.

Whether it is helping you to decide the best way of working as a self-employed professional, providing friendly, expert advice on becoming self-employed, helping you manage your business finances, or guiding you through the compliance maze, we are here to help you at every stage of your journey through self-employment.

A good place to start is by taking a look at our free Choices guide to becoming self-employed. It is full of useful insights into running your own business, the different ways of self-employed working, and how we can help you stay on course when you become self-employed.

Helping you to make the right choices

When you decide to become a freelancer, contractor or self-employed professional, there will be a long list of decisions to make and issues to consider to give yourself the best possible start. But don’t worry, we can give you all the objective, transparent advice you need to set you on your way.

How do you want to work? One of the first things to decide when becoming self-employed is how you want to work. There are three main options – working as a sole trader, setting yourself up as a limited company, or joining an umbrella company. Each has its benefits and drawbacks, and we can help you choose the best option for your circumstances. Take a look at our Choices guide for more details.
Do you need an accountant, or will you manage your books yourself? Obviously, in theory it is cheaper to look after your day-to-day bookkeeping and compliance tasks yourself. But in reality, many self-employed professionals realise that the time, stress and uncertainty of trying to keep on top of everything, as well as doing their day job, costs much more than any initial cash saving. At the same time, the nature of self-employment - irregular income, multiple projects, flexible hours – mean that a traditional high street accountant is unlikely to meet your needs.
Are you compliant? Whichever way of self-employed working you choose, there will be regulations and legislation you need to follow. From IR35 to claiming expenses or paying dividends, not to mention the often complex bureaucracy surrounding your tax obligations, with Brookson, we take as much of the admin off your hands as we can. We help you stay compliant and on top of all the deadlines and bureaucracy you need to be aware of - giving you the freedom to focus on your work.

Choosing the right service provider

At Brookson, we are much more than a normal high street accountants. We understand the challenges that freelancers, contractors and the self-employed professionals face.

We can advise you on the full range of business issues when becoming self-employed, from establishing and registering your limited company and setting up a business bank account, to protecting your tax position and optimising your income potential. And with our uncomplicated, friendly approach, we keep you up to date with your rights and responsibilities at all times.

Gillian Donnelly
Customer Relations Executive

If you decide to work as a limited company, you can also take advantage of Connect, our innovative, user-friendly accounting service that connects all the different strands of your company accounts – invoices, statements, expenses, VAT, PAYE, National Insurance, tax returns – in a single, automatically-updated portal that is updated daily and available 24/7. It is all backed up by our Specialist Support Team six days a week, so you are never left to fend for yourself.