The biggest cheque I ever wrote...

[d000hg]

...just cleared from my business account. Corporation tax bill for my first full year of contracting/freelancing/running my business.

Feel a bit sick now

[NickFitz]

You need to condition yourself to not see the money that's due to the taxman as having anything to do with you. It's come to you for work you've done, and it sits in an account you control; but it's never really yours. You're just looking after it for HMRC.

That way, when you write the cheque and see the money go out, you feel a sense of relief. It's their problem now, and you no longer have the responsibility of looking after it for them.

Think of it in the way you'd think of holding five kilos of cocaine for somebody - the sooner they take it off your hands, the happier you feel

[Zippy]

Write a slightly smaller cheque and buy a bottle of something good to help you get over the shock.

[d000hg]

You need to condition yourself to not see the money that's due to the taxman as having anything to do with you. It's come to you for work you've done, and it sits in an account you control; but it's never really yours. You're just looking after it for HMRC.

You're right of course... I kind of hate the fact you end up holding the money for tax so long (both corporate and personal). It's beena weight on my mind not to accidentally spend it

[VectraMan]

What's a "cheque"? Is that a special type of internet banking?

You're living in the past. Today +10 years at least.

[sweetandsour]

What's a "cheque"? Is that a special type of internet banking?

I think it is a primitive form of payment mechanism used during the last century.

I have a vague recollection of taking ten cheques for £1.40 into the cashiers' office of my local council to pay all ten instalments of my (reduced) Community Charge bill sometime in 1992 or 1993.

For some reason the cashier was not very amused.

[d000hg]

What's a "cheque"? Is that a special type of internet banking?

It's what my accountant recommended. Given that they work exclusively over the internet with me, I don't think they are stuck in the past.

[HairyArsedBloke]

...just cleared from my business account. Corporation tax bill for my first full year of contracting/freelancing/running my business.

Feel a bit sick now

I had the same reaction when I did my first one over twenty years ago.

Now I don't have to worry about such things.

[DS23]

how big though? eh? hmm? eh?

[d000hg]

how big though? eh? hmm? eh?

A gentleman doesn't mention numbers. Fairly close to what I used to earn 5 years ago... I am just about at what I'm told is a defining moment, when you first pay more in tax than you used to bring home.