Content creator accountants that actually help you grow your followers

How do we help you grow your audience and create more content? By taking away the stress and hassle of worrying about finances and tax. It’s that simple! It may sound like a cliche but this is the foundation of how we help our clients. We get it, you are not a ‘business person’, you love creating content.

The 5 Crazy Mistakes Content Creators & Influencers Make

As accountants, our job is to ensure you avoid the pitfalls that so many content creators have made in the past. The crazy thing about this is that it’s not even difficult! The issue is that most new content creators are trying to do everything themselves. This is where CTA comes in.

1. Not speaking to an accountant soon enough

Ok, so you decided to take the advice of an accountant, however, it was a month before your accounts were due with companies house or your tax return had to be submitted to HMRC! Technically you are not late to submit everything, but you are late in terms of being proactive about your taxes and may have missed the boat to save £000’s in tax.

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2. Trying to do your own accounts/bookkeeping/taxes to save money

This is not uncommon in any industry, as new business owners we often want to keep our ‘costs’ down. The issue is that you may be saving on costs upfront or in year 1, yet you are going to possibly pay 10x more in taxes due to a lack of planning. You may even have to pay more in accountancy fees to make corrections to your bookkeeping.

The bookkeeping software companies make it all seem very easy as they want you to sign up for that free trial. The truth is that the data entry element of bookkeeping is easy, but knowing what expenses you can claim can be a grey area, one where experience really does count.

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3. Thinking HOW and not WHO

We have seen this so many times. As an influencer, you are good at making things happen. You are a go-getter, you create something from nothing and people pay attention. You can often learn something fairly quick or at least ‘have a go at it’.

The problem here is that you are asking the wrong question, you are asking HOW can I do the bookkeeping, accounting and not WHO can do this for me! This simple change is a GAME CHANGER. It will free you up mentally and physically to fuel your growth and content creation. Often what we drop from our own to-do list is the quickest way to get results.

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4. Not setting up as a limited company when you launch

This is more about the nitty-gritty of taxes and accounting. It may be why you are even on this page! A common question is asking what business structure should you use as a content creator? Should I set up as a sole trader/self-employed person or am I better setting up a limited company? There is no black-and-white answer to this question for everyone.

However, if your annual profits (annual sales less expenses) is expected to be less than £50,000, we would often suggest you set up as a self-employed person. This means that you do not need to submit official company accounts to Companies House but will need to submit an annual self-assessment tax return to HMRC. Generally, at this amount of turnover, the tax savings are often not there or not sufficient to cover the additional investment and administration burden of running a limited company. When your annual profits are greater than £50,000 we can start to think about whether a limited company is going to be beneficial.

The 3 reasons we normally suggest considering going limited are:

• to save tax when you are a higher rate taxpayer (circa £50k)
• to offer greater legal protection and
• to project more authority or status to customers and suppliers.

As a content creator, you are more than likely only worried about numbers 1 and 2. Failure to set up as a limited company at the right time could literally cost you £000’s in tax. All it takes is a conversation with an accountant that knows their stuff (wink).

5. No system such as Profit First to manage cashflow

As Profit First Accountants for content creators, we understand how important cash is. You will have questions such as;

• What to put aside for tax?
• How much should I pay myself?
• Am I claiming the right expenses?
• What expenses should come out of my business bank account?
• How can I actually pay myself?
• Do I need to register for or pay VAT?

You may also be thinking about what bank account to open for your business. At CTA we love the modern fintech banks such as Starling, Monzo and Tide. They are super easy to open a new account (all done on your phone) and have the ability to create spaces or pots. This is essentially a way for you to partition your income/money into different pots for things like personal tax, corporation tax, VAT (if applicable) and your general business expenses.