Tax Return for Chef

Being a chef requires incredibly hard work over long hours, but it’s ultimately a very rewarding career if you love what you’re doing. Being a freelance chef brings with it many opportunities in career paths, including being a sous chef, a pastry chef, sauce chef, or other specialities.

Whichever career path you wish to take, you’ll need the following skillset:

  • Creative and good with numbers: This will help you in planning and pricing
    menus.
  • The ability to prepare and cook food to a high standard.
  • Knowledge of and adherence to food hygiene regulations.
  • The ability to manage food supplies and cooking equipment.
  • People management skills to supervise and motivate other staff.

Learning to be a great chef

Being a chef is one of those careers where you have to really love what you’re doing, since it means hard work and long hours.
The easiest way to becoming a chef is through an apprenticeship. You’ll be able to learn alongside industry professionals while you earn a small wage.
There are two levels of apprenticeship, depending on what sort of work you want to do.

Intermediate level apprenticeship

An intermediate level chef apprenticeship will prepare you for roles including:

  • School cook/chef
  • Kitchen assistant
  • Craft chef – casual dining or restaurants, hotels, and gastro pubs
  • Craft chef – fine dining
  • Wok or deep fry chef – Chinese cuisine
  • Stir fry specialist

Advanced level apprenticeship

An advanced level chef apprenticeship will train you for roles including:

  • Sous chef of senior chef/cook – fine dining, restaurants, hotels, and gastro pubs
  • Pastry chef

Head chefs usually look to hire people with education in the food industry.
Education is also of great benefit to those thinking of becoming a freelance chef.

How to find work as a freelance chef

Freelancers in many industries usually start their freelance careers by working in their spare time while they continue to support themselves with a full-time job.However, since chefs often have to work long hours, it may not be possible to work a full-time job.
It’s a good idea to save money beforehand to support yourself and/or your family while you build up a list of clients.

Marketing your freelance chef services

You’ll have to do a lot of work in the early days as a freelance chef to find new clients.
Here are a few ways to market yourself and your services:

  • Set up a website: A professional website will make you look more credible, and is a good place to display your contact details and previous work experience.
  • Join social networking websites: Social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin allow you to make contacts and showcase your work and services.
  • Business cards: Hand out business cards to friends, family, and potential clients.

How to do your accounting as a freelance chef

There are various benefits to freelancing as a chef, from the freedom and flexibility to work with a variety of businesses and individuals to more take-home pay. But there is one downside – accounting.
As a full-time employee, your tax is usually taken care of on your behalf in the form of PAYE.
As a freelancer you’ll have to keep a range of financial records and then prepare and pay a Self-Assessment tax return at the end of each business year.
Accountancy can be very confusing and can distract you from practising your craft.

Getting tax and accountancy advice

With most accountants, you’ll pay them to do your year-end accounts, and then they’ll forget about you until the next year.
But for your business to be run smoothly and successfully, you’ll need advice on tax and accountancy throughout the year, especially in the early days.

Citi Accounts is different

Citi Accounts provides an affordable and specialist accountancy service designed just for freelancers.
Throughout the year we’ll be on hand to give you any tax and accountancy advice you might need, including things like:

  • Take-home pay
  • Which VAT scheme to register for
  • Expenses
  • Tax allowances
  • Choosing between sole trader and limited company
  • Running your business in a tax-efficient way

We charge for our accountancy services in a clear and simple way, which means you’ll never receive an unexpected bill, and you can get in touch for advice wheneveryou want without the worry of being charged a fortune like you would with many other accountants.