Recording expenses without receipts

[gmc83]

Hi all,

Great forum BTW i've been browsing the pages a lot recently and got some good info.

Recently i've had success with selling on ebay and amazon and have decided to make a go of it as a full time income. The goods I sell are nearly all 2nd hand (mainly books on amazon and computer games + vintage clothing on ebay). I've been mainly sourcing items for selling from car boot sales, jumble sales, book sales etc. My question is how do I record these purchases without a proper receipt. Can I create my own and fill it in with the date, amount spent etc? I understand that the revenue will want some form of proof as I could just be making the numbers up. Usually before I go to one of these sales i'll go to the bank for cash, would tying up withdrawal receipts with the dates of the sales help?

Also when it comes to recording sales, should I make a print off of every item that is sold on either ebay or amazon and also record it on a spreadsheet?

I'm going to be trading as a sole trader.

Thanks

 

[gmc83]

I thought i'd bump this up the page, I posted it last night but only just got approved this morning as i'm new.

I've got a question regarding the start date for self employment. I've bought shelving, some carpet tiles for kitting out the small unit that i'm planning to work from. Can I claim these expenses if they were bought before the start date? I've also got some stock that i've been accumulating recently with the intention of selling once everything is in place. Is it ok to have done this or have I technically already started the business even though i've not made a sale.

Thanks

 

[Mpg]

Hello and welcome.

You have 3 months to register as self employed after this they can fine you £100.

Yes you can claim start up costs as expenses and can go back a fair way if memory serves me right.

Not sure about your cash transactions. I'll wait for an answer from the accounting bods (Elaine or nicola or any other top accounting bods)

 

[gmc83]

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully someone will be able to shed some light on this

 

[Raw Rob]

You might want to get a mod to move this to the accounting forum, more likely to get a response there.

Rob

 

[Raw Rob]

Double post, v strange, I definitely only clicked once!