Originally Posted by Your Virtual Wizard

The difference between the $10 I would make and the $25+ the agency charges their clients is not only the profit the agency needs but it includes all the admin costs to process my paycheck. They have to pay someone not only to do the accounting, but they must pay someone to market my skills to their own client so that the job could be available.

Many years ago, I worked for a major telecommunications company as a secretary to the Director of Inbound/Outbound Support and later as a liaison rep in the same department through a temp agency. As secretary, I approved my time and the vouchers to pay my wages, which is when I realized--with a shock--that what I earned was not what the temp agency was earning. It annoyed me that the temp agency was earning in the range of 2.5 times what I was earning. My eyes were really opened.

The nice thing about working for a temp agency (and the main reason I worked for them) was that I worked as much or as little as I wanted and knew a paycheck was coming. Today I would do something similar quite differently.

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A L Camien

Excellent!!!!!! It looks scary but that's how it is LOL!

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Karla Amaya, Your Practical Admin
http://www.yourpracticaladmin.com

Thank yo SOO much for this. I'm not really good at math, but your breakdown helped me out a lot. Since I'm just starting up, I haven't even BEGAN to do my rates as of yet (I'm still sprucing up my business plan).

Hi lily. Thanks for the calculation it has got me thinking in the right direction for my rate. Just wondering ow different the calculation for tax is here in the UK compared to with you I the US? I'm glad I don't have to think about health insurance (thank god for the NHS!) but I realise that here I have to pay income tax, national insurance and VAT (that one is really confusing me at the moment! Lol). If anyone has a similar calculation to that lily provided but aimed at us in the UK I'm sure it would go down a treat!

Thanks

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~ James Barnett, TotalVirtualAssistant.com

Great post!!! This is some very helpful information! Thank You

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Arista Professional Services - the business solutions experts
www.aristapro.com

Hi James,

Originally Posted by totalvirtualassistant

If anyone has a similar calculation to that lily provided but aimed at us in the UK I'm sure it would go down a treat!

You can use the same approach here in the UK, just remember to do your sums in GBP not USD

The basic equation for someone who is self-employed is Income - Business Expenses - Taxes = Personal Expenses + Profit.

Start with your expenses and how much profit you want left over. Then factor in your business expenses and taxes to work out your target yearly income (personally I estimate taxes at 30% of income less business expenses). Then either you can work out how many hours you need to work at a given rate, or what rate you need to charge to only work a certain number of hours.

Originally Posted by totalvirtualassistant

I realise that here I have to pay income tax, national insurance and VAT (that one is really confusing me at the moment! Lol).

Short answer: you only have to register for VAT if you expect your income/turnover to exceed the threshold, which is currently £77,000. Longer answer: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/start/reg...o-register.htm

Cheers,
Tim

Hi Tim, Thanks for this - I had gone down the same calculations as Lily for the expenses but didn't know what to do about the tax! I didn't realise that the VAT threshold was as high as £77k (had a mental note of £67k from somewhere!). I will use the 30% rule for tax and see if that makes a difference to what I had guesstimated!

Thanks again - I'm still amazed at how helpful everybody is here! Hopefully I will be able to help others out soon!

~James

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~ James Barnett, TotalVirtualAssistant.com

Janine,

I always love reading your posts, especially when you defend the profession. It always makes me proud to be a VA and charge what I charge!

Thanks
Lisa

Thankyou, I was just going to charge the going rate $45 but I am looking to earn in the 77 range and I feel with my experience and background I am worth more. Thankyou. $50+ is exactly what I am going to charge!

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Josia T Denton Technical Virtual Assistant: For Businesses + People on the Go!

Thnx...this is a great source of information for someone just starting out.