Week 3
Not much this week as I was laid low (again) with a "typical" cold. Just to be on the safe side, we both went for a Covid test on Sunday and had the results by the evening. Only noteworthy because of the concern about our clients - I kept totally out of their way even though we knew it was only a cold.
Our oldest client tested positive - but luckily nothing to do with us if we follow the timeline properly. He was with us on the Monday and apparently came in contact with someone on the Tuesday. He lives at an assisted living building with other similar residents - so the staff arranged for the testing. He has only "mild symptoms" at the moment. It will be interesting to see how long it takes before he can be cleared to come back to us.
We also have a curfew. So I can't go out raging after 2100hrs...oh, wait...
We have an election coming up in March. There are political party speeches on TV already. Geert Wilders is openly racist, but dresses it up in "butter wouldn't melt in your mouth" language, so that he (apparently) gets away with it.
Boeke took me for a few walks, but I only felt "fit" again by the end of the week...
Boeke has decided that he likes the lookout mound, racing up to the top each day.
I read the information panel again - the area dates from the Ice Age - the pools (pingos) are left over from ice - see artist's impression... (complete with hairy mammoths).
Taxation, bookkeeping, etc.
On Saturday, I was able to do 6 hours bookkeeping to finish off 2020 and get a head start on 2021. If I have a New Year's Resolution it is to "keep up to date" with the paperwork.
Interestingly, one of my problems is that we are now buying so much stuff on line, and so there is not always a clear "paper trail".
For taxation purposes, I have to cross reference all the business expenses with a "piece of paper" and a number. Janny does most of the purchasing so I have to "encourage" her to at least make a sceenshot of the order. Luckily, it all goes through the bank, so I can create a number from the entries if necessary, but it is not always evident that it is a business expense or private. I envisage myself being able to justify everything if we ever get an audit!
I also have to distinguish between expenses for the apartments - for which we pay BTW (GST) on the income and can make some claims for the expenses. All the Care Farm income is BTW free, so that means we can't make any claims to get some back. So it all comes down to recording everything for the cost of running the business. (We also have to pay Income Tax as well as the BTW - it always feels like double taxation to me).
In 1997 we had a visit from "our taxman" - Mr Zandman - I'll never forget him pointing his finger at me and saying "you have to work at least 25 hours a week in order to qualify for the (Business Starter's) Benefits". He must have made an impression on me, but we have not seen anyone from the Taxation Office since. We trust our accountants, but I feel obliged to be able to justify everything.
I still remember Jim Hunter making me justify all my Budget requests at the Training College!
...and my cry of "how long has this been going on?" when I realised what it meant to have one's own business.
Cost of heating
At the end of each month, I read the gas and electricity meters for the apartments. It is hardly anything during the Summer but the Winter months come as a bit of a shock!
The huge bills that we get for the business are calculated on a yearly basis and divided by 12 so every month is the same.
I was able to calculate how long each of the residents has been here and come up with a rough daily cost of gas (heating, cooking and hot water) and electricity. It came out at roughly €5 -7 per day.
We have two gas meters that we get bills for - we got €1700,00 and €1900,00 back this year - this could be a sign of a mild winter and/or the extra insulation we put in when we did the new roofing.
A Youtube video about Friesland (It's been around for a while, but I stumbled upon it again as I was looking for something else)
"mild" is relative. Administrivia is all around us, although you seem to have good systems in place to get it all done. Love the tax office.
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