Andrew Fisher led a talk on taxes and finance generally. Much of the below information has been lifted from www.gov.uk/working-for-yourself/overview and the PRS site www.prsformusic.com
“If you start working for yourself, you’re classified as a sole trader.” This means that if you do a little instrument teaching on the side, intend to set up your own recording studio as a business or run yourself as a professional performer you will need to register as a sole-trader with HMRC.
You’re probably self-employed if you:
- run your business for yourself and take responsibility for its success or failure
- have several customers at the same time
- can decide how, where and when you do your work
- can hire other people at your own expense to help you or to do the work for you
- provide the main items of equipment to do your work
- are responsible for finishing any unsatisfactory work in your own time
- charge an agreed fixed price for your work
- sell goods or services to make a profit
“You can be both self-employed and employed by a company at the same time, for example if you work for an employer during the day and run your own business in the evenings.”
If you are self-employed you must register with HMRC as self-employed, keep records of your business income and outgoings and pay your tax each year. When filling out tax returns you can claim back tax-deductible work expenses from HMRC.