Late payments
01/02/06 08:12 Journalism in practice
It's that time of year again. Yesterday was 31
January, the great 'exodus from the bank account to
the tax man's coffers' day. The Federation of Small
Business is calling for more flexibility on how
self-employed people pay tax.
To my mind, the problem for us isn't the inflexibility of the tax regime, that's easy - you know the bill is coming and you have time to save (although why we have to pay in advance when everyone else gets to pay after they've been paid is beyond me). The weakness relates back to the topic of a piece I did for the Guardian last week - late payment, or clients who think an invoice with 30 days written on it - the legal default - may be paid 30 days after their next cheque run, 60 days afterwards because that's what they do, or just when the freelance complains. Or they tell you they pay on publication and never mind the legal niceties.
It happens more than you'd want to admit. Normally it's just about OK but this time of year I can't help but reflect that the coffers are empty but if I had every payment that's more than 30 days old I'd be thinking about changing the car. Anyone with any thoughts on how you enforce this stuff without alienating clients is more than welcome to comment.
To my mind, the problem for us isn't the inflexibility of the tax regime, that's easy - you know the bill is coming and you have time to save (although why we have to pay in advance when everyone else gets to pay after they've been paid is beyond me). The weakness relates back to the topic of a piece I did for the Guardian last week - late payment, or clients who think an invoice with 30 days written on it - the legal default - may be paid 30 days after their next cheque run, 60 days afterwards because that's what they do, or just when the freelance complains. Or they tell you they pay on publication and never mind the legal niceties.
It happens more than you'd want to admit. Normally it's just about OK but this time of year I can't help but reflect that the coffers are empty but if I had every payment that's more than 30 days old I'd be thinking about changing the car. Anyone with any thoughts on how you enforce this stuff without alienating clients is more than welcome to comment.
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