Am I doing it right?

[GR_UK]

Just signed up tonight after being a long time lurker!

OK, on the first of this month, I set up an ebay business (after much preparation before hand). The good thing is everything is going ok, I've made sales, re-stocked a few products, and my profit/ loss figures are just about out of the negative!

I'm just using a spreadsheet I made in Excel for the accounts, its very basic, but seems to be doing the job for me. I have separate sheets for sales and purchases, detailing every sale and purchase I make (who'd of guessed it! ). Then a summary of profit/ loss and my inventory, those are more for my own reffrence really.

Now heres where my questions start...

I've received invoices from my suppliers that I've had to print myself, so in theory I could of edited them to reduce my profits and ultimately taxable income? Obviously, I haven't, but could of. So will this suffice for the tax man or do I need something more 'official' along side them?

Along the same lines, will a receipt from the post office be sufficient for my postage expenditure? I've been paying in cash for this, so have no bank statement to prove it!

Now for the second question, when I make sales, I jot the details in my accounts and also print out the paypal "transaction details" (which documents everything, buyer name, address, amount, fee, etc.). Again, will this suffice?

Your experience would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance!

 

[dp0848]

Hi

1) Invoices sent electronically by your supplies are perfectly acceptable to HMRC.

2) Yes, post office receipts are perfect to evidence your postage expenditure.

3) Another yes, for sales just pop the transaction details in to your spreadsheet and keep a copy of the paypal print off as evidence of the transaction. I would however recommend that you set up a business bank account separately from your personal account as it will make your accounting a lot easier.

Regards.

David.

 

[GR_UK]

Thanks David - appreciate your help!

Business bank account is on my to-do list. I'm using PayPal primarily and the only funds to ever hit my account will be wages (if/ when I'm in a position to take any that is ), so it wasn't an initial priority.

Thanks again, that's one less thing to worry about!

 

[Christiane]

Hi

Are you printing every single sales from Paypal? From day one, I only every recorded the monthly income received on Paypal, and still do. This is perfectly acceptable for my accountant. As your sales grow, you'll end up with lorry loads of paper if you print every sales. I only print the monthly sales report that shows the opening and closing balance (fits on 1 page).

My 2p.

 

[dp0848]

Hi

Are you printing every single sales from Paypal? From day one, I only every recorded the monthly income received on Paypal, and still do. This is perfectly acceptable for my accountant. As your sales grow, you'll end up with lorry loads of paper if you print every sales. I only print the monthly sales report that shows the opening and closing balance (fits on 1 page).

My 2p.

Good point.