Some people go back to the gym, some promise they’ll read more, some start a new diet (on Monday), and some make an exciting career move.
If the last one sounds like something you have in mind and you’re considering freelancing in 2022, here’s a quick list of things to keep in mind when choosing a bank account.
- First things first - you need a business bank account🌈
You may think that your usual, personal bank account is enough, and it may be at the very beginning. But a business account will save you time (and headaches) from day one. Think about it. When you start freelancing, you’ll have plenty of things to focus on. This takes time and energy, of course - which you’d probably rather not spend on financial matters. A digital banking business account can easily take care of that through automatization (a.k.a magic).
- Bookkeeping, bookkeeping software…and more bookkeeping📜
Sounds complicated, but it’s gotta happen. The good news is that you don’t really have to do this by yourself. Nowadays, there are plenty of apps that deal with this, like Billomat or MoneyBird. You can find these and others in the bunq app already, so no need for more apps and more worries. If you’re a bunq user, you can set up a direct connection between the app and your bookkeeping software once and you’re good to go. You can also automatically send statements to your accountant. Easy!
- Money - store it, exchange it, move it🌍
Freelancing doesn’t have borders nowadays. It’s super easy to pick up a project for an American company while you’re chilling in Paris. However, currencies haven’t exactly caught up yet, and there are still…well…plenty of them. If you’re looking to work across borders, make sure you choose a business account that supports multiple currencies. It definitely comes in handy to have a USD account, a GBP account and a EUR account in just one digital banking app. With bunq you can hold and exchange 6 currencies, making international transfers hassle-free.
- Taxes…yes, they happen💸
As a freelancer, you get some great tax cuts in many European countries! Even so, you’ll probably still have to set aside your VAT for when the taxman comes. This could be quite an issue if you forget about it and consider that amount part of your profits. To make sure it doesn’t happen, get a bank account that puts it aside for you automatically in a separate sub-account. No bad surprises, no math skills needed, no time wasted.
There you go🙌
Just a couple of tips to get you started when searching for a business bank account that fits your freelance lifestyle.
All of the above are included with bunq Business. Give it a go - it only takes 5 minutes to open an account.
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