Who we work with

Accountants for freelancers Tax handled. So you can keep doing the work.

Freelancing means doing the actual work plus running yourself as a business. The 'running yourself' part includes Self Assessment, VAT once you cross £90k, expense management, payments on account, and now MTD ITSA. Most freelancers spend evenings and weekends on this rather than the work they want to be doing. Fernside takes that off your desk for a fixed monthly fee, with no surprise bills — you focus on the craft, we keep the tax tidy.

TL;DR — At a glance

We work with freelancers across creative, tech, marketing, writing, design and consultancy
Self Assessment and quarterly check-ins keep your tax position predictable
Pricing from £45/month — no surprises, monthly subscription, cancel any time
We handle multi-client invoicing, VAT registration if you cross £90k, and the limited-company decision
Free 20-min call to discuss your specific situation

Who we work with as freelancers

Our freelancer clients span the obvious categories: creative freelancers (designers, writers, illustrators, photographers, video editors, animators), tech freelancers (developers, UX designers, technical writers, devops contractors), marketing freelancers (copywriters, PPC specialists, SEO consultants, brand strategists, social media managers), and professional services freelancers (lawyers in-between firms, accountants, HR consultants, project managers). Income patterns are typically a mix of recurring monthly retainers, project-based fees, and occasional one-off work — sometimes with multi-currency invoices and platform deductions thrown in.

The unique tax challenges of freelancing

Freelancers face a particular cluster of tax issues that pure sole traders sometimes miss. Irregular income makes payments on account awkward — your January bill is half of last year's tax even if this year is quieter. Mixed-currency income from platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, US clients or European agencies needs exchange-rate handling. Platform deductions from Upwork/Fiverr/Adobe Stock need backing out so you report gross income. Subscriptions creep — Adobe Creative Cloud, productivity software, AI tools, professional bodies — all deductible but easy to miss. The dividend allowance matters more for freelancers who hold modest investment portfolios alongside their freelance income.

Should freelancers go limited?

For 2026/27, the answer for most freelancers is not yet. With the new dividend rates (10.75% / 35.75% / 39.35%) the tax saving over sole trader status is modest until you're earning well over £50k of stable profit. The real reason most freelancers eventually incorporate isn't tax — it's customer requirements: many larger companies, agencies and public-sector buyers only contract with limited companies (sometimes for IR35-related reasons, sometimes for procurement compliance). If you're hitting the ceiling of what sole-trader work you can take on, incorporation may open more doors than it saves in tax. Read our free guide.

VAT decisions for freelancers

Freelancers cross the £90k VAT threshold more often than they expect because the threshold uses a rolling 12-month measure, not your accounting year. A strong few months can push you over even if your annual run-rate is below. Voluntary registration before threshold makes sense if your clients are mostly other businesses (they reclaim the VAT, so it costs them nothing) and you have significant input VAT (software subscriptions, equipment). It's a bad idea if your clients are individuals or non-VAT-registered small businesses — you become 20% more expensive overnight. The Flat Rate Scheme is no longer the easy win it used to be: most service freelancers are 'limited cost traders' paying 16.5%, which usually costs more than Standard VAT.

What we do for freelancer clients

For most freelancers, our Starter (£45/month) covers the essentials — Self Assessment, expense reviews, HMRC correspondence — and is the right fit for solo freelancers under £50k. As work scales, Growth (£125/month) adds bookkeeping (so you stop manually categorising every Stripe payment), VAT returns once registered, and monthly P&L visibility. Most importantly, we treat tax as a 12-month task: quarterly check-ins flag issues early, so the January bill doesn't surprise you. We also handle the freelancer-specific oddities — platform deductions, multi-currency, irregular income smoothing, mid-year client portfolio changes — without making you feel like you're outside the template.

Tools we recommend for freelancers

Accounting software: FreeAgent (free if you bank with NatWest/RBS/Ulster Bank/Mettle), QuickBooks Self-Employed, or Xero — all MTD ITSA compliant. Banking: Starling, Tide or Mettle for free business accounts; we recommend keeping freelance income strictly separate from personal accounts from day one. Invoicing: built into your accounting software, no need for a separate tool. Receipt capture: use your accounting software's mobile app to snap and categorise receipts in real-time rather than batching at year-end. Mileage: apps like MileIQ or your accounting software's built-in tracker beat manual spreadsheets.

Working with us — local or remote

Our office is in Woodford Green, London IG8. We work in person with freelancers across NE London and Essex (Woodford Green, South Woodford, Wanstead, Chingford, Walthamstow, Buckhurst Hill, Chigwell, Loughton, Epping). We also work entirely remotely with freelancers across the UK — most of the actual work happens via email, secure file exchange and video calls anyway. Whether you want to meet in person occasionally or never, the service is the same.

Ready to talk?

Book a free 20-minute call. No pressure, no obligation, just a clear conversation about whether we're the right fit for your situation.

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Frequently asked questions

From the questions we actually get asked by people in your situation

I work with US/EU clients in USD/EUR — how does that affect tax?

You report income in GBP, converted at the date of receipt (or invoice if cash-accounting). Most accounting software handles this automatically using daily exchange rates. We can advise on FX hedging through your bank if currency volatility is meaningful for your income.

I'm on Upwork/Fiverr/Toptal — do platform deductions affect my income?

You report gross income (what the client paid), not net (what you received after platform fees). Platform fees are a deductible expense. This is one of the most common mistakes we see when reviewing prior-year returns from freelancers.

Should I save for tax as I go or just panic in January?

Save as you go. Rule of thumb: set aside 25-30% of every payment into a separate 'tax' savings account from day one. That handles Income Tax, Class 4 NIC and payments on account without panic. Higher-rate freelancers should target 35-40%.

Can I claim my home office costs?

Yes — two methods. Simplified flat rate £10/£18/£26/month based on hours per month working from home (no paperwork). Or actual costs (proportion of mortgage interest, rent, utilities, council tax) — usually better for full-time WFH freelancers but needs more record-keeping.

What about IR35 — does it affect freelancers?

IR35 mainly affects limited-company contractors, not sole-trader freelancers. As a sole trader, IR35 doesn't apply to you in the technical sense. If you're a limited company contractor working through a personal service company, that's a different conversation and one where The Tax Lead may be a better fit for complex cases.

Do you handle multi-state US tax or international tax?

Not directly — for international tax matters (US K1s, multi-jurisdiction freelancing, treaty positions) we typically refer to our sister firm The Tax Lead, led by Shamim Bhuiyan FCCA, CTA, BSc, whose firm specialises in international and cross-border tax.