I was really pleased to be invited to take part in an online forum hosted by The Guardian yesterday, which, as part of the careers section of its website, had brought together a panel of experts to answer readers’ questions on freelancing.

The focus was on the creative, media and PR industries but a lot of the questions, particularly the accounting type questions which I was brought in to address, had a similar theme to a lot of the queries we see on the main contractors forums every week and relate to day one of being a contractor; how do I set myself up and what is the best way to manage my finances, making sure I don’t fall foul of the tax man?

It’s clear from the discussions I see, and take part in, that there are a lot of very experienced contractors out there who have a very firm grasp of accountancy for their business. However, there are also a fair number of ‘bar room’ experts who don’t always offer the most accurate advice, or pass on second hand advice they’ve picked up ‘from a mate.’

As per the advice I would always give to any contractor looking to set up their own limited company, do your research, make best use of all the online guides, and its always best to talk to a professional, specialist contractor accountant.

You may think that good advice can be quite costly, but it won’t be as costly to your business as bad advice.

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Tags: accounting services, contractor, HMRC, IR35 advice, tax