cheers mate

Just to sidle in on this.. Anyone here have a salaried day job and a self employed side hustle? I've toyed with the idea of a side hustle but all the advice I could find online was based on fulltime self employed contracting, not side hustle contracting. 

Lias:

 

Just to sidle in on this.. Anyone here have a salaried day job and a self employed side hustle? I've toyed with the idea of a side hustle but all the advice I could find online was based on fulltime self employed contracting, not side hustle contracting. 

 

I used to do that many years ago, it's not uncommon to have a mixture of PAYE and contractor income in a financial year. Best thing is to talk to an accountant - they'll give you the right advice for your specific situation.

danfaulknor: Plenty of us here though usual disclaimers about professional advice apply :)

Best advice is not take legal advice from the internet. :-) And get an accountant.

Lias: I've toyed with the idea of a side hustle but all the advice I could find online was based on fulltime self employed contracting, not side hustle contracting.

I would assume the side hustle isn't worth the stress. Hourly rate may look good on paper, but without insurance and possible dicking around with tax and what not, is it worth it? 

Going sole is stressful enough.

Im working sole trader at the moment, consulting, prior to which I have been permie in every other job. 

I am using HNRY for now for finances (www.hnry.io), which has really simplified things. Eventually I would probably consider using a service that would cost less and a bit more DIY to save some more money, but for now, it works well for me.

I considered http://www.soloapp.nz/ for a bit, but they didn't have a couple of features I was looking for at the time. 

Brief list of things I did 

As far as everything else goes, it depends what you do, how much earn, etc. But the basics for me were,
- NZBN registration (not required, but did it anyway)
- GST registration with IRD portal
- HNRY setup
- Liability and Indemnity Insurance - I used bizcover for my liability insurance - Often you'll find liability insurance is a clause in the contract, and even if its not, its worth having. My contract with my client specifically states how much cover I need to maintain throughout the contract. I have also had many people say I need to keep it for a while after I finish contracting as well (presumably any issues that may arise after I leave) 

And of course the usual things - make sure you keep receipts for business expenses (HNRY is great for this, since you can upload them immediately), log book for any work related trips in a personal vehicle, etc.

Because of my arrangement at home, I claim a percentage of my bills vs. the other option which is based around a dedicated area or room in your house. Hnry make this easy to setup if you have questions.

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Now with that said, a side gig would be pretty stressful I would imagine unless you are putting through some decent hours or a decent hourly rate. But I won't debate that side of it. From a financial point of view, you can record outside income in Hnry as they become your tax agent and submit your returns etc.. This is not quite the same with Solo as that is more manual and requires you to copy and paste things last I checked in with the developer. But there are plans to make it a bit more automated. 

Depending on your contract and industry, careful as some contracts don't like you having side gigs (both perm and contracting). Always read the contract to be sure though.

Highly recommend having a look through https://www.business.govt.nz/getting-started/choosing-the-right-business-structure/becoming-a-sole-trader/ - This helped me immensely. 

PS I am not a financial advisor and cant provide professional advice or anything, this is just recording my personal experience so far.

Annnd if you managed to make it through that, let me know if on your journey you decide to use Hnry, as I can refer you if which will give us both credit :) 

thank you!