Tax is a tricky business.

I wanted to update this post as being self employed for the last good few years has definitely been a learning curve when it comes to being responsible for your own accounts and tax returns. 

I wrote this post back in 2013 after a group discussion and a few chats with my closest blogger pals, I realised that this could be valuable information for those confused, overwhelmed, or curious. I am not a financial adviser but I have pulled this information from the Government's website. I just thought it would be easier to have a checklist in one place instead of scrolling through lots of pages. 

I had done the usual searches and could only find information specifically related to blogging on American sites from other bloggers trying to help each other. 

Unfortunately our tax system is completely different to the US, so I thought I would write a simple post that may help anyone else with the same queries I had.  

I have attended a couple of blog conferences this year and at each they talked about how to promote your blog commerically and the sessions on how to monetize your blog, seemed to all be really well received. At BritMums Live there was a session on Accountancy (you can see the slides here) which took those who attended through the basics of what you need to know when it comes to setting yourself up as self employed if your intention is to make some money from your blog.

I completely missed this session and, of all the many posts I read following BritMums Live, I didn't hear a whisper about it. The follow up post is great and really helpful, so do read it.

I feel that there is more emphasis on how to make money from your blogs, rather than the implications of making money from it.

At the Blog Summit event the advertising program was promoted at the start of the session with an informative speech from the PR company.

But I think the implications of earning money from your blog should be as heavily promoted.

I am not a tax expert, but I am self employed as a consultant in the development industry, a part time photographer and blogger, and I know that you have to declare ANY income you receive.

HMRC state quite clearly that if you earn any money from temporary or part time work you must declare this income, even if it is below the current threshold for income tax.

The current annual threshold is £9,440. This is the maximum you can earn in total before you are liable to pay tax.

UPDATE: Following a reader's comment, it's important to realise that this threshold is the total amount of income you can earn. If you blog as a second, pocket money income and are employed, you should get advice from your local tax office. If you pay your tax through your employer, then all your blog income could be liable for tax. 

Whilst "blogger" is not defined in the list of situations where you are classed as self employed, you need to decide whether you think that being a part time, full time or every now and again blogger, who earns some sort of income from their blog, falls into the self-employed category.

Possible next steps:

• Register for self assessment online. You can do that here.
• Apply for a Certificate of Small Earnings Exception from National Insurance contributions if your profits from your blog are less than £5,965 (as of January 2017). Or you can opt to pay Class 2 contributions.
• If your profits are more than this you will be required to pay your own National Insurance contributions. Further information on this is available here. 
• Ring your local tax office or Citizens Advice Bureau if you have any queries, including any regarding deductible expenses. 
• Organise all your blog related financial documents including invoices, print your PayPal statement if you use PayPal as a form of payment and any receipts from expenses you have incurred through your blog.

Keeping a good record is essential. There are a number of expenses you can deduct from any potential taxable income. 

Here is my updated list for 2017

These are listed on the Government website as allowable expenses if you are submitting your tax return under the cash basis accounting system. This applies if you earn less than £83,000 from your self employed/sole trader business.

All the information you need to work out what expenses are allowable are here. 

Invoicing

Always invoice a company you work with on your blog. This can be a simple Word or Pages document.

Points to include on an invoice are:

• Date
• Invoice Number
• Company
• Contact name, number and email
• Reference (Describe the work i.e. sponsored post/advert/competition) 
• Amount due
• Date payment is due by
• Payment Method
• If you are invoicing for an advert you may want to include whether the artwork is supplied and what size).

This is not a definitive list and do let me know what else you include so we can share information. 

I am of the mindset that if you want to run your blog professionally, (if you want to earn an income that is is - not everyone does!) that corresponding with and invoicing companies in a professional manner is good practise. No matter how much you may earn.

The same applies for any adverts you run on your blog that you receive an income for. 

This is not official advice from HMRC. I would like to highlight again that I am not an accountant nor a tax expert!

The deadline for paying your tax for the year ending April 2016 is 31st January 2017. 

There is loads of advice on line at gov.uk.

Wedding bells are chiming again today on the blog and this week I am talking colour palettes. All to support the charity The Wedding Wishing Well Foundation who organise and fund weddings for terminally ill people.

I love colour palette posts. Mini mood boards that are an easy way to save your favourite ideas.

The Foundation's Bristol Bride and Groom have their hearts set on a red, black and white theme, the Bride joked that was his only input and if he had his way, they'd be getting married at Old Trafford! You can read their story here. (I warn you, it's a beautiful but emotional read.)

When my Mum married again in 2007, to my step dad, who is a life long Everton supporter, they had the Z cars song, which the players always walk out to, as their first dance!

I think it's wonderful to choose a theme or colour that has great sentiment. 

I had baby pink, as I had pictured that being my wedding colour since I was a little girl. 

I had a good browse on the internet for inspiration for the Bristol couple and here's what I loved. 

How sweet is this photo idea?!  

It poured with rain at our wedding and I wish I had seen this as I would have definitely picked up a coloured brolley when we saw the forecast! 

The red shoes just make it. Who says rain can spoil your photos?! 

Wow - these stunning anemones make an incredible bouquet. Just imagine a thin band of red ribbon around it.

This photo by Jonathan Ong makes my heart soar. You could do half of the balloons with black curling ribbon and half with white.

Cakes. Oh these cakes would almost be too beautiful to eat! Works of art in themselves!  I love the simplicity of the Le Petit Four white base and black ribbon icing. The chocolate cake is so indulgent, you just want to dive straight into the photo! And this place setting would almost be too pretty to spoil with a plate of food! 

Something for the boys?!

And something for the girls?!

When it comes to flowers and this colour scheme, you are spoilt for choice. These button holes made me gasp. The button hole by Calie Rose is so intricate and delicate at the same time, with the addition of non floral elements. The red hanker chief is a great way to make this button hole look even more crisp and fresh. What about a brooch bouquet like this stunner? You can incorporate some sentimental jewellery or scour the local charity shops for a beautiful bargain. These poppies look stunning against the white and black print backdrop. You could make a great photo booth backdrop with some similar print wallpaper! Lastly a floral ice bucket! Genius.

And finally here is an incredible mood board of ideas by The Knot, which is an amazing source of inspiration for brides to be. 

So, did you start out reading this post with doubts of how stunning that colour scheme could be, or were you sold from the start?! 

Don't forget, every Wednesday is Wonderful Wedding Wednesday on this blog to raise awareness and donations for the charity, The Wedding Wishing Well Foundation to help as many couples have their dream day as possible, before it may be too late. 

Please support them in any way you can. 

See you next week wedding lovers! 

Last week I saw a friend of mine who has made her allotment in Bristol her escape from the world. She is growing all sorts of wonderful things and we have a date at the vegetable patch at the end of September!

In the meantime I have supermarket mini veg to the rescue! 

I wondered if anyone else finds it tricky to get all 5 of the recommended 5 a day fruit and vegetables into their children? 

Sammy has refused to eat sweetcorn over the last couple of months so I decided to try a different tact. 

Here's a simple idea to make vegetables fun.

Mini Allotments! 

Ingredients: 

• Mini whole vegetables of your choice but I used...
• Baby courgettes
• Baby carrots
• Mini leeks
• Asparagus
• Tenderstem broccoli
• Baby sweetcorn
• Ready to roll puff pastry
• Butter for greasing
• Olive oil
• Roasting herbs like sage, thyme and rosemary
• Pastry horns

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees or Gas Mark 4. 

Prepare your vegetables by washing them and cutting their tops and tails off. Except the asparagus & broccoli that's the best bit! 

In a roasting tray, place your vegetables, which take a little longer to cook, the courgettes, (I cut them in half length ways)  carrots and leeks and sprinkle with herbs and a drizzle of olive oil. Place in the oven. Cook for 10 minutes and add the rest of your vegetables.

Whilst the first set of vegetables are roasting, take your pastry horns and grease with butter. I tried both without butter and with margarine and butter wins!

Roll out your sheet of puff pastry and cut 1cm lengths. Start at the bottom of your pastry horn and wrap around, overlapping as you go up to the top. I needed 1 and a half strips per horn. Leave a little of the metal horn showing.

Place on a baking tray for 10-15 mins. 

Tip: Check your veg occasionally and cook until they are roasted but not limp. 

Take both trays out of the oven and leave aside to cool. 

When cool to touch gently tease your cone from the pastry horn. Poke, that's a technical cookery turn ;) your roasted vegetables into the cone and you are done!

I'm thinking of mashing the veg down a little and making it more ice cream like. Maybe next time! 

I told the boys they were vegetable ice creams and they ate 90% of them before they said "Mama! This is not an ice cream cornet!" 

Super simple but super effective. 

How do you get yours to eat their greens? These were the only leftovers, not bad from two small boys!

ps. Did you spot some of the props from my #SundayPropShop intro?!