There are two kinds of money advice aimed at UK freelancers. The first is written by accountants, for accountants, and assumes you already know what a payment on account is. The second is written by whoever is selling the software, and somehow always concludes that their software is the answer.
The Paid Hour tries to be a third thing: plain-English guides to the money side of working for yourself in the UK, the software, the tax, the invoices and the admin that nobody trains you for.
What we cover
- Accounting software: what each tool actually does, what it really costs once you are past the introductory offer, and who it suits.
- Tax and HMRC: Self Assessment, Making Tax Digital, allowable expenses, and the deadlines that catch people out.
- Invoicing and payments: getting invoices out, getting paid on time, and chasing the ones that are late.
- Business banking: whether you need a separate account, and what the options are.
- Running your business: setting rates, writing contracts, and managing clients.
How these guides are put together
Every guide starts with primary sources: HMRC’s own published guidance, the provider’s own pricing and terms, and official announcements, not a rewrite of somebody else’s blog post. Where we quote a figure, a threshold or a deadline, we link to where it came from so you can check it yourself.
Anything time-sensitive is dated. Tax thresholds move, software pricing moves, and a guide that was correct in one tax year may be wrong in the next. Where a page says something was accurate as of a particular date, that is the date it was last checked.
We also try to be honest about the limits of what a website can tell you. Some questions genuinely depend on your specific circumstances, and the right answer is ask an accountant rather than a confident guess. When that is the case, we say so.
You can read the full editorial policy if you want the detail.
Who is behind it
The Paid Hour is a small independent site, not a media company, and not an accountancy practice. It is researched, written and designed by Syed Esrak Ahmmed, a UK-based freelance designer working through the same questions as the people reading it, checking everything against HMRC’s published guidance and the providers’ own documentation before anything goes live.
You can find him on LinkedIn, his own site and Facebook, follow the site on YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest, or reach him through the contact page. Every guide carries his byline, the date its figures were last checked, and a list of the primary sources it rests on.
The same guides, on video. Subscribe to The Paid Hour on YouTube — short plain-English explainers on Self Assessment, expenses, MTD, invoicing and the tax calculator.
The courses and templates
Alongside the free guides, the site sells fifteen short courses and a set of invoice templates. They exist because a guide can only explain a rule. The courses are the working files: the calculator, the letters, the checklists, in the order you would actually use them. Each one is a PDF with spreadsheets, downloaded the moment you pay, updated free at every Budget, and covered by a 30-day no-questions refund. The first module of each of the original five is free to read on its page, and nobody is asked for an email address to get it. No guide is written to push a course, and no course is needed to use a guide.
How the site pays for itself
Some links on this site are affiliate links, which means we may earn a commission if you sign up for a product after clicking one. This never costs you more, and it never decides what we recommend: a tool that is wrong for you is wrong for you regardless of what it pays. The site also carries advertising. Full details are on the affiliate disclosure page.
One important limit
The Paid Hour publishes general information, not financial, tax or legal advice. We are not accountants, tax advisers or solicitors, and nothing here is a substitute for professional advice about your own situation. If a decision has real money riding on it, speak to a qualified accountant or adviser first.
Spotted something wrong or out of date? Please tell us: corrections are welcome.