Knowledge Base and FAQ

Hello, I’m Louise from Performance Accountancy. I want to talk about charity concerts, because this is one of those areas where good intentions can accidentally create tax confusion. Before anyone panics, I am not anti-charity. I am very much pro-clarity. Here is the tax issue. If you organise a concert and sell tickets, that ticket […] (Read More)

Stop Using Your Business Account Like a Personal Wallet Hi there, I’m Louise from Performance Accountancy. Let’s talk about something I see constantly, and it can have serious implications for your tax return and your accounts. If you are trading as a limited company, you should not use your business bank account like a slightly […] (Read More)

What to do if you were self-employed years ago, stopped, and then start again If you were self-employed in the past, stopped for a number of years, and later start working for yourself again, there are a few important steps that must be followed — even if you already have a UTR (Unique Taxpayer Reference). […] (Read More)

  Not All Savings Are Created Equal A quick guide to ISAs, pensions, and what actually affects your tax return – bear in mind this is not financial advice as I am not an IFA. Why this matters: Every year, clients tell us they’ve paid into a “Pension ISA” – but spoiler alert: that isn’t […] (Read More)

How to Reduce Your Payments on Account If you’re expecting a drop in income for the 2025/26 tax year, you may be able to reduce your Self Assessment payments on account. Here’s how it works and what you need to know. 1. Timing is Key You’ll have a much clearer picture of your annual income […] (Read More)

  Last Updated: 11 November 2025 Training Expenses – What You Can and Cannot Claim Many musicians, opera singers, and performers ask whether they can claim training or educational expenses on their tax return. Unfortunately, HMRC has strict rules around this. Here’s what you need to know: What HMRC Allows According to HMRC’s Business Income […] (Read More)

How to Record Refunds for Business Purchases Properly The scenario: You’ve bought something for your business (e.g. a music stand, stage costume, instrument accessory) and recorded it as an expense in your accounts. Later, you return it and get a refund. The mistake: Some people record that refund as extra income instead of reducing the […] (Read More)

Passport to profits? – Don’t get stuck in work travel doc delay this summer. The words “A1”, “Travel” “Europe” and “Work” rarely conjure shockwaves of excitement. However, right now, they could be some of the most important things you will read this summer. That’s because if you are planning to work abroad this year, you […] (Read More)

Instrument purchases and expensing them in your accounts and tax return. Let’s clean up a couple of terms here, as many people as about capital gains tax on their instrument purchases instead of capital allowances on their instruments. Capital Gains Tax is a tax on the profit when you sell (or ‘dispose of’) something (an […] (Read More)

Scotland or England tax rules?   So you may think this is a dumb questions, but how do you know if you are to be treated as an England tax resident or a Scottish tax resident? As the rates and thresholds are different, being a Scottish resident may look more favourable tax-wise, to the lower […] (Read More)

Why hire a specialist accountant to complete your yearly tax return? The problem of managing taxes is crucial to your personal financial success from budgeting, accounting and the dreaded tax return whether it is a self-assessment tax return for the self-employed or annual accounts & tax return for limited companies. A personal tax accountant can […] (Read More)

6 Reasons To Get Your Tax Return Done Before the Middle of July. Now I tend to work late into the night but don’t expect me to be at my desk by 10am. Ain’t gonna happen. But part of my wind down in the evening is to turn on Challenge TV at 11pm and have […] (Read More)

Child Actor and Tax: What You Need To Know   There seems to be a flurry of activity with children being on film sets both in the UK and overseas, and with that comes a lot of misconceptions about children and tax. I did a blog post way back in 2016, and nothing has changed […] (Read More)

So what if I don’t file a tax return? Hey, it is your choice if you don’t want to file a tax with HMRC, but they do have a list of those that are registered to do one, and even a list of people that should do one if the information has come from other […] (Read More)

Marriage Transfer Allowance ” title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen > This week’s hot topic all seems to be about the marriage transfer allowance. What is the Marriage Transfer Allowance? What this is, is if you have a husband and wife, husband and husband, wife and wife, Civil Partners, etc, whatyou can do is if one […] (Read More)

So this week, I had a really interesting phone call with somebody and that led to a phone call from somebody else with exactly the same question & they both got exactly the same answer. They were after about this working from home allowance as employees. Now you might remember that for tax years 2020/2021 […] (Read More)

Child Benefit Charge Threshold   Okay. So the fifth of October, that’s fast approaching, well, maybe not that fast, but it’s coming very soon. And there is something sneaky that the government has done or the treasury has done or HMRC has done, that not many people are realizing affecting people earning over £50,000 per […] (Read More)

  This is a really, really quick video, with a bit more information all about grants – Test & Trace Support Payments – Are these taxable? This time we are talking about the Test and Trace Support Payments that you might get if you are self-employed and on a low income. So we know that […] (Read More)

This video is all about your payment on account for self-assessment. I’ve already produced a payment on account video, but this one takes it into a little bit more detail, explains how the calculation is made and the panic that will ensue when you find out you are definitely having to pay a payment on […] (Read More)

In this video we are looking at pension income and what happens in the UK tax return. Types of pension In the UK, there are two different types of pension in effect. One is the state pension, and the second one is a personal private pension. So, the state pension is paid when you are […] (Read More)

This video is all about gift aid and the effect it has on your tax return. The basic rules of Gift Aid The basic rules are money given to charity can have gift aid attached to it. In effect, if you are a UK taxpayer, you can give money to charity. It must be a […] (Read More)

This video is all about pension contributions and what you do with your UK tax return. Pension contributions in your tax return There are two ways that the pension goes into your tax return, and it depends on whether you’re employed or self-employed. A private pension and also a company pension have different effects on […] (Read More)

Bank loyalty schemes Bank loyalty schemes Banks want to have your business! It seems like they will offer lots of bank loyalty schemes to get your business, but at what cost to you taxwise? Many are offering cash to switch accounts, and having spoken to HMRC (via twitter I have to say), the switching amount […] (Read More)

We are going to quickly look at when you have to pay your self-assessment tax return bill. People are often worried that if they do their tax return early, then they need to pay the bill early. And that is so not the case. But if you do your tax return early, and the taxman […] (Read More)

This video is just a quick one to explain what a P45 and a P60 is in relation to what you need to do for your self assessment tax return. So professionally I often get asked by musicians and actors is how do they know if they are being paid via pay-as-you-go, or PAYE as […] (Read More)