I'm a sole-trader painter. I received £1000 from a job. I sent £750 to my personal account for "wages". How do "mark" this transaction on quickbooks? Thanks

Hi there, Jake. You need to mark this transfer as a Personal transaction or Owner Withdrawal rather than "Wages," as HMRC treats you and their business as the same legal entity. This ensures you don't incorrectly claim your own pay as a business expense, which would result in an inaccurate Self Assessment tax return.

In QuickBooks, a sole trader does not earn a salary; you only draw from your profits. Labeling this as "Wages" would treat it as a deductible business expense, a common error, as you cannot be your own employee.

To record this correctly, you might want to use the Business vs. Personal toggle within your transactions. You can visit the Categorise bank transactions in QuickBooks Solopreneur guide for more details on managing your tax categories.

You can categorise the £750 transfer directly from your bank feed as follows:

1. Go to the Transactions menu and find the £750 outgoing transfer.
2. In the Type column, change the selection from "Business" to Personal.
3. In the Category dropdown, select Owner Withdrawal or Personal Spending.
4. Click Confirm or Save.

By adhering to this process, the £1,000 is classified as taxable business income, while the £750 is recognized as non-business expenditure. This approach ensures that your allowable expenses consist solely of actual costs, like supplies, which helps maintain accurate profit figures for tax season.

Please let us know if you require any additional assistance. We're here to help.