Idea for extra income

jobbingmusician

It's quite useful to post an A4 poster PLUS another which has little tear-off strips at the bottom which say 'Dissertation and thesis proofreading service - ring xxx -xxxxx Or possibly 'email ddd@ddddddd.com' so students can tear off and keep yr phone number/email.

Poster could say something like 'Dissertation and thesis proofreading service. Graduate with PhD in English (OK, so I'm being optimistic ) will read and correct text online, showing clearly where amendments have been made. Only £cc per 1000 words (or per page).' How does this sound?

Miffi_2

jobbingmusician wrote:

It's quite useful to post an A4 poster PLUS another which has little tear-off strips at the bottom which say 'Dissertation and thesis proofreading service - ring xxx -xxxxx Or possibly 'email ddd@ddddddd.com' so students can tear off and keep yr phone number/email.

Poster could say something like 'Dissertation and thesis proofreading service. Graduate with PhD in English (OK, so I'm being optimistic ) will read and correct text online, showing clearly where amendments have been made. Only £cc per 1000 words (or per page).' How does this sound?

That sounds absolutely fab - I'm now going to start playing on publisher! Just got to figure out how much to charge!

savingforoz

Miffi, with my accountant's hat on - don't even think about not declaring the income. An inland Revenue investigation is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy - they can stick their noses into every aspect of your life if they so choose and they have amazing powers on sniffing out who's not declaring extra earnings.

Miffi_2

savingforoz wrote:

Miffi, with my accountant's hat on - don't even think about not declaring the income. An inland Revenue investigation is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy - they can stick their noses into every aspect of your life if they so choose and they have amazing powers on sniffing out who's not declaring extra earnings.

OK - so how would I go about declaring the income - I have no idea if my ideas will take off but if they do, how much can I be earning before I declare, or should I do it now?

Thanks in advance.

savingforoz

If you're going self employed (which it sounds as if you are, however small the scale of operations) then you need to register with the Inland Revenue for tax and National Insurance, via forms that you can download from their website (https://www.hmrc.gov.uk). There's a fine for not doing so promptly. All self employed people have to prepare and file tax returns annually, which is how the income gets declared to the Revenue. You can file the tax returns online yourself if your business affairs are simple and if you do so by 30 September annually, the Revenue will work out your tax bill for you. The amount of tax/NIC that you pay, if any, depends on how much other income you have - as your first post mentioned extra income, then I assume you have earnings elsewhere? However, if the income is small and you don't have other earnings, then you may not have to pay any tax and can claim exemption from Class 2 national insurance.

Miffi_2

savingforoz wrote:

If you're going self employed (which it sounds as if you are, however small the scale of operations) then you need to register with the Inland Revenue for tax and National Insurance, via forms that you can download from their website (https://www.hmrc.gov.uk). There's a fine for not doing so promptly. All self employed people have to prepare and file tax returns annually, which is how the income gets declared to the Revenue. You can file the tax returns online yourself if your business affairs are simple and if you do so by 30 September annually, the Revenue will work out your tax bill for you. The amount of tax/NIC that you pay, if any, depends on how much other income you have - as your first post mentioned extra income, then I assume you have earnings elsewhere? However, if the income is small and you don't have other earnings, then you may not have to pay any tax and can claim exemption from Class 2 national insurance.

Thanks for that. The proof reading idea, which is what I'm going to sort out first will only be short term and may not bring that much in, if at all. But I do take your point...At this point in time, I have no plans to go self employed, any thing I do will be 'on the side' of my permanent, full time job.

mariannemarlow

this thread is really interesting. if i had the motivation i could do something like this as i am very good at spotting mistakes in things.

good luck miffi

frugglewump

jobbingmusician wrote:

I do hope my earlier post didn't come across as too negative

Your post wasn't negative - it was very accurate. It surprises many people how many overseas students come here unless you are working in the sector.

lallyaya

Hiya,

Re: going self employed, if you're doing it on the side of your full time job, for yourself and not for an employer - then you're also self employed in the Inland Revenues eyes! You can be employed and self employed at the same time - like me! It really is easy to register so I would just do it as you don't need to pay anything if you don't earn it. You just phone the self-employed helpline, they will take all your details over the phone, you'll then receive a big folder full of useful info, a NI bill and an exemption form so you don't need to pay the bill!

Lally
-X-

ladywood

I'm a university lecturer and if the spelling and grammar of some of the student work I get to mark is typical then this is a GREAT idea! Focus on dissertations and theses - and maybe do something on the advert to draw in overseas students. We get a lot of overseas masters students - they are very committed but English is often their second (or third!) language and I am sure a lot would love to have someone proof read their dissertations!

Good luck.