Coronavirus: Help Announced For Freelancers

This is a difficult time for the industry, with many productions large and small delayed or cancelled, and thousands across the sector laid off. It’s an unprecedented situation, and a lack of financial support from the government has only added to the worry. When help was announced for businesses and employees last week, one major omission was support for the 15% of the UK workforce who are self-employed freelancers, including the majority of people working across the production sector.

Today, that was finally addressed by the government, with an announcement from chancellor Rishi Sunak.

What Support Has Been Announced For Freelancers?
Matching the package announced for full-time employees, self-employed people will now be able to have 80% of their wages covered by the government, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month. The amount paid will be based on average monthly profits over last three financial years. This support will last for 3 months initially.

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Freelancer Tips: How Much Tax Should I Pay?

When you’re working freelance, calculating how much tax you should be paying can be tricky. We’ve partnered with Crunch, who offer specialist accounting services for freelancers, to help guide you through the maze.

Crunch have two webinars running tomorrow, where their experts will be on-hand to answer your queries, depending on whether you’re working as a sole trader, or you have your own limited company.

What taxes do I pay? A webinar for Sole Traders – REGISTER HERE

What taxes do I pay? A webinar for Limited Company directors – REGISTER HERE

Both webinars are free, so don’t miss your chance to have your questions answered by the experts.

Don’t forget, all ProductionBase members receive a 10% discount on Crunch accountancy packages for the first year, as part of your exclusive range of Member Discounts.

Freelancer Tips: Pay & Tax For Sole Traders

Starting out as a freelancer can be a daunting process, not least from a financial perspective. We’ve partnered with Crunch, who offer specialist accounting services for freelancers, to help guide you through the maze. In this article, we’ll take a quick look at pay and tax for freelancers working as sole traders.

How do I pay myself as a sole trader, and how much should I put aside for tax?
You don’t need us to tell you that everyone loves to get paid. When you’re a sole trader, though, what sounds like a simple concept can get a little tricky.

As far as the law is concerned, there’s no legal difference between you and your business when you become a sole trader. You receive the income and you pay the expenses – including the tax liability, which you pay as an individual. That’s why we always recommend you put some money aside to pay your taxes, as HMRC have very strict deadlines.

So, how much should you be putting aside for tax, and how do you go about getting your hard-earned cash from your business into your pocket? Let’s explore.

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Mind The Gap

Mind The Gap

A freelancer’s work flow can be unpredictable and irregular at the best of times, but cries of hard times seem to be even more prevalent as freelancers attempt to sit-out the apparent production-crunch. If this rings true to you, maybe part-time work or a 2nd job is something you’ve already considered? This week I talk to some PB members who are already living out this reality and offers some insight into how they’re muddling through.

It’s an open secret that relatively few television freelancers can rely on their TV production work alone to pay all of their bills, all the time. And yet, there’s an embarrassment about what else people do in the gaps between contracts, almost as if they are showing weakness in their commitment to television by doing other things… I asked a range of ProductionBase members of all grades to tell me, in strictest confidence of course, what they actually do when they are not working in production… Of all the jobs mentioned by people, the biggest earner was also the most striking.

Instead, indies and broadcasters could be grateful to their workforce for getting out there to work in other roles, meeting people in different contexts, and celebrate their eclecticism. Maybe those companies should also worry that so many of their workforce need to work elsewhere to make ends meet.

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