The Tax Man Strikes!

[RichT]

Oh joy...

After touring shitty toilet venues for five years, accepting shitty indie record deals and finally being dropped and ejected from said 'long-term' band - now my tax returns are being audited by the Inland revenue - big style.

I'd just managed to start clawing my way back to being a 'real' person, being paid by the studio as an employee - gets round all this tax return crap.

I earnt shit over those five years yet somehow the tax man thinks he's gonna get some money out of me.

Ironically this year royalty cheques finally started coming through but thats a story for another tax return...

[tommyd]

Rich,
Sorry to hear the bad news. One bit of advice, straighten that crap out as fast as you can. I don't know what the UK's version of the IRS is like, but here in the States, once they even SUSPECT you might have fudged a tad, they keep coming back like a bad dream. Sort it out fast, document everything for the future. If it's anything like here you'll revisit the situation more than once.
Good luck,
Tommy

[quadwould]

i have yet to have any problems with Inland Revenue....... touch wood.... and thankfully i have not had any in the states either (with the IRS)....

However... i think i may have learned a very important thing from my father-in-law.... he is audited by the IRS EVERY YEAR!!!!...

his secret to pulling that off, is pure 100% paranoia.

he is formally employed in an architecture firm, and does some consulting on the side.... on his taxes he claims every single receipt, every charity donation, every thing that one can possibly put, even payments to the veteranarian (i can't spell...) he gives them soo much information that they get really really suspicious and audit his ass for it every year....

and the thing is... between him and me.. i am the one that should really be audited....

so lesson learned is.... only give them that bare essentials. what you make, and what goes out.... like rent and other small things..... and thats it....

if you have a dodgy source of income... ie cash in hand work... or freelance engineering for small bands (yet more cash in hand....) dont claim any of it!!!!
dont claim your bank account (the one the cash in hand wages go into), have another one, that you put small amounts of money into.....

also, try to have a lame "job" that pays you in the "regular", or "proper" way... even if it means working 15 hours a week at Argos or some shit like that.... the monies from that job should be direct deposited into your "other" secondary account.
and claim that one......

of course.... once one has an established position in a company that pays them regularly and legally.. ie. paying NI tax... then there is no need for the Argos type job.

[RichT]

Originally posted by tommyd
Rich,
Sorry to hear the bad news. One bit of advice, straighten that crap out as fast as you can. I don't know what the UK's version of the IRS is like, but here in the States, once they even SUSPECT you might have fudged a tad, they keep coming back like a bad dream. Sort it out fast, document everything for the future. If it's anything like here you'll revisit the situation more than once.
Good luck,
Tommy

Thanks Tommy,

Prepared my accounts and related stuff over the weekend and sent it to them special delivery - two days after they requested it. That's gotta count for something right?

Keeping my fingers crossed I can answer all their questions.

Cheers,
Rich

[RichT]

Originally posted by quadwould
i have yet to have any problems with Inland Revenue....... touch wood.... and thankfully i have not had any in the states either (with the IRS)....

However... i think i may have learned a very important thing from my father-in-law.... he is audited by the IRS EVERY YEAR!!!!...

his secret to pulling that off, is pure 100% paranoia.

he is formally employed in an architecture firm, and does some consulting on the side.... on his taxes he claims every single receipt, every charity donation, every thing that one can possibly put, even payments to the veteranarian (i can't spell...) he gives them soo much information that they get really really suspicious and audit his ass for it every year....

and the thing is... between him and me.. i am the one that should really be audited....

so lesson learned is.... only give them that bare essentials. what you make, and what goes out.... like rent and other small things..... and thats it....

if you have a dodgy source of income... ie cash in hand work... or freelance engineering for small bands (yet more cash in hand....) dont claim any of it!!!!
dont claim your bank account (the one the cash in hand wages go into), have another one, that you put small amounts of money into.....

also, try to have a lame "job" that pays you in the "regular", or "proper" way... even if it means working 15 hours a week at Argos or some shit like that.... the monies from that job should be direct deposited into your "other" secondary account.
and claim that one......

of course.... once one has an established position in a company that pays them regularly and legally.. ie. paying NI tax... then there is no need for the Argos type job.

Hey Quadwould,

I thought I'd left all this stuff behind - I've been doing PAYE and paying N.I regularly since last July.

They decided to turn over old ground (2001-2002) when I was living off the record company advance and to be honest the band's account get a little blurry around there.

After a bit of thought this weekend, I welcome the investigation as hopefully it'll lay to rest my involvement with my old band (financially anyway) - one way or another.

Cheers,
Rich

[ExistanceMusic]

Hmm, finding this interesting, keep us posted.

I'm just about to start invoicing my current employer (as an AE, I also have another "Argos type job"...) for my income as opposed to being paid cash in hand.
Engineering is becoming a decent income for me, and I want to start running myself as a business, so I can claim equipment, travel and other expences as tax deductions.
Did some math this morning and I should come out pretty good. By "good" I mean I won't make a helluva lot of money, but the gear should pay for itself and the other job will keep me fed and sheletered nicely, so really, what more can I ask for?
Never done anything like this before, but I'm working on solid advice from people that have, and I believe it can be done.....

[RichT]

On Wednesday I got another letter through.

They want clarification on a couple of things and YET MORE records.

I have now sent everything they have requested in this letter but I have a bad feeling they may start to look into my wife's records as well.

Why do I feel like I'm on a rollercoaster ride that I can't stop or even jump off.

grudge

[Zarf]

Hiya. Best of luck with the taxman - just don't forget to claim depreciation of ALL music related assets, business use of your car as a %age of your overall mileage (and you can depreciate that 30% per annum) including a pro-rata'd portion of all maintenance costs. So, all trips to music shops, gigs (promo activity?) etc. are potentially claimable. If you sold something, and lost money on it, you may be able to claim the difference between "book value" and sale value as loss against tax too.