Throughout life, there will be loads of instances when you have to be able to show off how much you earn. Renting an apartment, applying for a loan, and a lot of other large transactions can’t be simply based on trust, with those on the other side of it wanting to be reassured that you’ll be able to uphold your end of the bargain. Of course, though, when you’re self-employed, this sort of task becomes all the more challenging. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of the key methods which can be used to prove your income when you work for yourself.
Accounts: Each year, you’ll have to go through the same process as every other business owner, assessing your own money to see how much tax you owe your government. At the end of this, you will be left with a detailed summary of all of the money you earned during the period in question, and this can be used as evidence of your income. No one would lie on this sort of document, as they’d have to pay more in tax, and this makes it a great option when you’re trying to prove your worth.
Invoices/Paystubs: As part of your normal admin work, you will usually have to invoice a client before they pay you anything. This sort of document is a powerful tool when it comes to proving your income, as long as you can prove that they are being paid. There are loads of companies out there which can help you to create paystubs from your invoices. Offering a much more recognised form of proof, an option like this will always be better than a basic invoice.
Bank Statements: This next option is one which some people won’t feel comfortable with. You will usually only be asked for this kind of evidence when you’re dealing with someone unprofessional, like a private landlord. There is rarely any risk when it comes to a route like this, but it’s very understandable that you wouldn’t want to let someone get an insight into your money like this, and they should be happy to follow another path if you want them to.
Share Reports: Finally, as the last idea on this list, when you have a large business under your belt, it’s unlikely that you own the whole thing. It can be much easier to come up with a value for a company when it is being traded publicly, with the amount of shares you own directly impacting the value of your slice of the business. Having a valuation under your belt can make it very easy to show that you can afford what you say you can.
To Sum Up..
Hopefully, this post will inspire you to start working harder on the time you put into proving your worth when you’re self-employed or working for your own business. Living like this can often present a lot of challenges, but these can be overcome if you’re willing to do the right work and put effort into all of it.