According to statistics recently published by the Federation of Small Businesses, very high numbers of individuals in recent times are ceasing to be employees and choosing self-employment. Around 300,000 are likely to begin working for themselves in 2010. Obviously, this is to a great extent due to the current deep downturn, with many being laid off and many others working part-time, and job opportunities often receiving hundreds of applications. However, on the other hand, now is an ideal time to become your own boss, as Internet business can be utilized as an inexpensive delivery channel for the goods or services you offer. It can even allow you to work from home without the cost of setting up a workshop or office.

There are various opportunities for working as a sole trader, employing your old skillset or possibly teaching yourself extra skills for the growing number of online jobs that are now available in Internet business. Not all business ideas require a huge amount of money. In one case, a man had the idea of retrieving abandoned supermarket trolleys from places they had been left and selling them back to their original supermarkets. Initial capital required, virtually zero. Moreover for traders who work from home, overheads like transport costs can in reality be less than when they took the car or train to work.

You are advised to take care of some purportedly self-employed positions that are basically exploitative. You will witness many such positions on the online jobs sites that I suspect to be simply unscrupulous employers seeking methods of avoiding the costs of employing a person. For example, a debt collectors agency advertised for debt-collectors, but on a self-employed basis. You would only receive payment if you succeeded in getting debtors to pay their debts, but interestingly, I could see no reference to the percentage they would pay you, suggesting strongly that this was a pretty low figure. I was not curious enough to find out.

Neither do you necessarily count as self-employed just because you work from home. My last employer in London had employees who lived in Wales and Scotland. These people only visited London for the Christmas party, but they still worked for the company and were paid a salary. To count as self-employed, you must be able to determine your own hours and organise your own workload. For example, in an Internet business opportunity like web consultancy you will get paid on successful projects, not on an hourly rate.

Not everyone is suited to being self-employed. Many need to be encouraged and monitored by a boss in a 9-to-5 managed workplace, while dreaming of that big lottery jackpot. If you work from home or work alone then you are under your own command, and it is crucial to be a self-starter. There is no short cut to immense wealth. But how many employees realise that they have few prospects of getting to the top in their organisation. The movers and shakers all seem to be the Managing Director’s mates or family. You will never join them. Become self-employed in online jobs or another business idea, and you may with effort be very successful and realise your full potential.

The self-employed need to deal with their own book-keeping and tax matters, and it is vital to get help from a reliable financial consultant. Some items can be claimed as expenses and offset against tax payable. It is also essential to get insurance for ill health, as you have no one there to give you sick pay.

In total, though, the advantages of self-employment far exceed the minus points. Most people who have taken the plunge say they never want to go back to being an employee. It is worth your while to consider this option.

Over A Century Ago, it occurred on a snowy day in January. By the 1970s, we celebrated it in the balmier climes of early June. Since then it has moved back and forth from late May to early June and back. Sad to report, it seems unlikely to return to a more snowy month of the calendar. In 2010 we could have had a garden party to observe it on the 30th of May.

The date referred to is Tax Freedom Day. If all the tax payable by us in the calendar year, we had to pay up front, then the date concerned would be the day when we could complete paying all our tax and begin benefitting ourselves from the money we earn.

What a sobering fact that people spend such a long time earning money simply to fill the coffers of the taxman. However there are means by which tax can be avoided without breaking the law and the amount of tax payable can be lowered. This is true in particular if you work for yourself, if you work from home or in the numerous online jobs which have come into being recently in Internet business.

Let’s face it, employees have no option but to accept that money is taken from them, up front, from the money they earn. The self-employed are responsible for their own tax affairs. With the assistance of a tax accountant, they are able to offset a variety of overheads against tax and by doing so trim down the tax they have to pay. A few self-employed people have informed me that they don’t pay nearly as much tax as employees.

I worked briefly for HM Inspectors of Taxes. They had one single tax inspector responsible for all workers on a payroll in the district, and yet there were ten inspectors sorting out the rather more limited number of small business people and other self-employed. This is due to the fact that the rules for calculating tax for those working for themselves, are so complex.

Recently, HMRC has closed some loopholes about who us genuinely self-employed. Some consultants who are based in someone else’s office, or even work from home, have been told they are in fact employees because they don’t determine their own working regime.

Therefore, those who wish to lessen their tax burden have to genuinely work independently. There exist a variety of real self-employed opportunities in Internet business. You can establish a business online, or work in online jobs as franchisees of an established business, and yet you can still be taxed on a self-employed basis because you determine the hours you work and work that you do. Should you work from home you can trim down your overheads still further, and in addition many outgoings that you still have could still be claimable against tax. However you should always follow professional advice on what you can claim for. You must also get tax returns in in time for the declared deadlines, otherwise you could be landed with a fine.

A lot of self-employed people work as sole traders, in which case they will continue to be liable for income tax, albeit subject to expenses deducted. It is also possible to go into partnership with another person. Where this happens, one designated partner must submit a Partnership Return indicating each partner’s share of the profits or losses. A third option is of course to form a limited company, in which case you become, theoretically at least, a company employee and pay yourself a salary, on which you may be taxed at the standard rate. The company’s profit is then liable for Corporation Tax. One plus point of establishing a company is the liability of shareholders is limited to their shareholding.

Taking one of the self-employed opportunities in online jobs in Internet business is one of numerous ways open to you if you want to be your own boss and lessen your tax burden, with the advice of a tax accountant (and their guidance may itself be be claimed back against tax). But, it bears repeating, always take professional guidance on all tax issues, if you take the plunge and work for yourself.