Hi everyone,
A couple of times on this forum i have noticed people mentioning keeping accounts of their income and expenditure as a performer. It seems like something sensible to do but i must admit i am not very fiscally minded so i was wondering if the people who are could give me a few pointers?
I already keep an account book for my day to day monies but i feel like i ought to be keeping a separate record for performance bits... so here's my questions:
-Is it just as straightforward as putting down everything that goes in and out?
- Should i only include things that are strictly burlesque expenditures eg Train Tickets to a show or should i be including things like makeup which i may be buying for a performance but will also probably get used outside?
- If i start making a profit (at the moment i don't think i break even overall) do i need to submit anything to the tax man?
- I s there anything else i need to know about accounts in these circumstances?

Sorry, i'm sure these are really obvious questions but any help is appreciated

xxx

My accounts are for tax purposes.

I've got a section for start-up costs (which my accountant tells me can be backdated a fair bit).
Then I use a new row for each show I do and each other burlesque-related expenditure, be that props, costume, music, promo materials, make-up, manicures... Basically, anything that I wouldn't be spending money on if I wasn't a burlesque performer.

Columns include a large travel column divided into train fare/car mileage (@ tax rate). I also have an 'other' column which includes things like car parking/hotels/tolls.

The final column is a running total.

So, I now keep a travel diary in my car, noting the current mileage before any journey I make and a note of where I'm going. This not only helps with accounting, but also proves to my car insurance company that I'm using my mileage allowances correctly - i.e. I have 3,000 business miles per year and 4,000 recreation miles.

I hope this helps.

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HMRC do free, half day workshops which tell you all about record keeping, if you phone them they'll arrange for you to attend a local one x

Thanks Beatrix that's very thorough! It sounds like i might need to go to one of these classes to get my head around it... Thanks Anna for the pointer...
xxx
Emerald