You don't 'lose most of it to tax'

You don't pay tax at all on the first ?6,475, then it's 20% until you earn ?37, 400 and 40% on what you earn over that.

This is the same in whatever job you do - you work, you pay tax.

Record keeping as an escort is fairly simple: date, amount earned. Keep receipts for business expenses and these can reduce your tax bill. The online tax return is an evenings work if you've kept your records throughout the year, or pay an accountant to do it for you.

Of course you could stash it all under the mattress and spend the rest of the time looking over your shoulder, wondering when you are going to get caught out... or you could pay your taxes like the rest of us.

Thanks Stephanie.

I wasn't saying is there any point doing the tax, I meant is there any point escorting if it's only going to be for a few months.

I wouldn't want to set everything up because then 3 months later I'd have to then tell them that I'm no longer self-employed, and was wondering if there's any point.

In that case I apologise for my tone, I get peed off with ladies who think they don't have to pay! I'm glad you're not one of them and I hope I didn't offend you 

As a uni job I reckon escorting can work quite well. You can fit it around studying and nights out, particularly if you are an independent rather than with an agency who expect you to sign on for a certain number of shifts. And if you are still going to be doing the odd bit of escorting here or there then you just stay registered as self employed and keep records of the work you do. You probably won't end up paying much in tax in this case (but put some aside as you earn it anyway, or you'll end up working a week solid to pay your tax bill!). Once everything is set up with the HMRC you don't have to do anything else other than your tax return once a year, so while it seems a lot now, once you are registered that's it 

Quote from: Roxy101 on 15 June 2010, 03:45:08 pm

Thanks Stephanie.

I wasn't saying is there any point doing the tax, I meant is there any point escorting if it's only going to be for a few months.

I wouldn't want to set everything up because then 3 months later I'd have to then tell them that I'm no longer self-employed, and was wondering if there's any point.

In that case I apologise for my tone, I get peed off with ladies who think they don't have to pay! I'm glad you're not one of them and I hope I didn't offend you 

As a uni job I reckon escorting can work quite well. You can fit it around studying and nights out, particularly if you are an independent rather than with an agency who expect you to sign on for a certain number of shifts. And if you are still going to be doing the odd bit of escorting here or there then you just stay registered as self employed and keep records of the work you do. You probably won't end up paying much in tax in this case (but put some aside as you earn it anyway, or you'll end up working a week solid to pay your tax bill!). Once everything is set up with the HMRC you don't have to do anything else other than your tax return once a year, so while it seems a lot now, once you are registered that's it 

That's okay . Once reading your last paragraph and then rereading my post, I realized I hadn't explained myself properly.

Thank you for the advice.

*Just venting*

I've just read through taxrelief4escorts.co.uk, and now I'm even more confused than before . I may be misunderstanding, but there seems to be so many different taxes and so many different percentages to worry about. I really want to do this, but I also don't want to screw up on all the taxes and end up getting arrested or charged thousands of pounds in taxes for making a mistake in the paperwork! I don't think the excuse 'I didn't mean to' will wash with them, lol...

I've read through the 'self-employment' section of 'Taxing for Dummies', read through most the posts on this forum about taxes and read the website stated above. I'm beginning to think this overwhelming feeling is telling me that I'm a complete idiot for not understanding what everyone else on here does.

*Le sigh*.

Don't worry too much about percentages, you don't need to do the sums yourself! When you fill in an online tax return it's calculated for you, you just have to put your data in  Just use the percentages as a guide to what you need to put aside for paying your tax bill.

NI is paid separately by direct debit each month, so don't worry about this.

Exactly, Roxy - you're overthinking, that's all! Although I suppose it's possible that we're all Mensa geniuses too

It's a good idea to put about 30% of your earnings aside into a savings account just in case you end up having to make some tax payments at the end of the financial year. And you must pay your NI contributions weekly or monthly by direct debit but they are only a couple of pounds. If it gets to the end of the tax year and after filling out the form ("I earned x on this day, x on that day but spent x on condoms too" etc etc is what I imagine it will be like - I haven't worked a full tax year yet either so I've got the same experience to look forward to!) it does your calculations for you and says, "Oh, you only earned ?6,003" then you will be able to cackle to yourself and consider your tax savings to be your own money again!

On the other hand, if you don't want to work that many hours as an escort and were only thinking of doing it for a few months and never again, it might be easier to try perhaps a bar job for the summer? I don't mean that rudely at all - just that then obviously you need not do a jot of tax form nonsense and can get on with earning loads of tips! Plus, it would be a more social job, not to mention one you can actually tell your friends + family about. I dunno. It's entirely up to you and I don't mean to suggest that you can't do escorting or anything! But honestly, the tax bit is the easiest bit cos after this you've got to either sort out a trustworthy & reliable agency or launch as indie with a security process set up and possibly an incall location and/or travel arrangements, pictures, website, all that. Of course I know you can do all this easily - but for 3 months of working, maybe it would be honestly quicker to earn money for uni in one of the other fun jobs? I know I ended up waiting til after my degree to start escorting - I had WAY too much else to be thinking about before that!