Income & Taxes

I have been doing some math this morning to do with my income, expenditure and taxes. I’ve looked at the IRD site and found out what I need to put aside for taxes on the income I earn doing contract work. That’s fine (better than I expected, actually). Then I added up what goes out of my account on a fortnightly basis.

Rent. Loan repayment. Gym membership (actually a very minor expense). Car & contents insurance. Health insurance.

I’m hoping for a reasonably stable contract starting in March. This alone wouldn’t cover all my payments, though, as it’s only part time.

BUT… if I can get that contract, AND do relief teaching for at least one day a week, I can just scrape by.

If I can get that contract, get at least two or three days of work per week doing other stuff (relieving, admin work, data entry…), then I can live quite comfortably.

Right now, though, I haven’t had any relief teaching, I haven’t been paid for any contract work, and I haven’t had anything else from my admin recruitment people. I’ve just dug into my savings to pay the bills. On the plus side, I’m getting paid for some work in the very near future (next few days), which means I can replace the savings money and still have enough to put aside for tax and food and stuff.

I think it’s going to be a hand-to-mouth existence for a little while, at least until I get some more steady work coming through. Talk with Stuart is sounding promising for some work in the future, so fingers crossed.

I did open up a new account called TAX that I can siphon all my tax from contract work into, and then I don’t have to go finding it when it’s due.