Simon Varwell's Blog
Tax and Spend
It’s an increasingly hectic week in the run-up to Monday’s launch, and I have been spending a couple of days off this week on publicity, lining up readings to follow up the launch, nagging friends into coming along to one of the dates or buying the book, and liaising with Sandstone Towers on a few details.
It’s the sort of flurry of activity that particularly reminds me of the Australian and New Zealand stages of the mullet adventures, when media interest in the mission peaked. Later today, hopefully, I’ll be speaking to the Daily Record and Highland News, while I’ve got Edinburgh and Aberdeen book reading dates in the bag and Glasgow and Stirling ones to follow, I’ve received an invitation to speak to the Highland Literary Salon next month (mullets? Literary? Yeah, I don’t get it either…), and I’ve been tinkering with my website to make sure it’s up to date and presentable. A busy time, as I say.
I’ve even phoned up Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Not to promote the book, of course. Although the idea of phoning up various national helplines and steering the conversation towards my book is an amusing one. Rather, it was to register as self-employed and ensure that whatever I earn will be declared to the tax man.
Not that there’ll be much to declare, however. As I said on my first visit to Sandstone Towers, if I expected to get rich quick, I’d go rob a bank. No-one writes for the money (unless you’re Dan Brown), and I gave a resounding “no” when the man I spoke to at HMRC asked if I expected to earn over some threshold amount between now and April. More than that, however, I’ve been discovering all about the types of things you can claim back against tax: everything from a forthcoming purchase of an external hard drive for my computer, to (an idea courtesy of another author) visits to the barber if timed shortly before appearances at events. And if I remained in any doubt as to whether I’ll be owing the tax man anything any time soon, there will almost certainly be another trip to hunt mullets later this year - a trip which will be both fun and expensive. But more on that soon.
The tax and income side of things is baffling (I hated maths at school), and no doubt it’s a dirty subject for authors to talk about in public, but the HMRC were surprisingly and refreshingly helpful and I’ve got some help on the paperwork side of things too.
Which means I can spend my time on more serious matters. Like mullets.