Need advice on tax code with new job & self employment

Any

Scaredy_Cat wrote: »

Not sure I can remember who did what and when, I'm afraid. I started a month ago and they did send me a P46 but I didn't fill it out because I found (and sent) my P45 instead. It had to be posted to payroll who are based in another part of the country.

When I rang payroll this morning it was them who told me to ring the Tax Office.

On advice from here, I've completed the P46 now, and will post that to payroll today - then ring Tax office on Monday and tell them to make this part time job my main employment. Hopefully that will sort it out.

If the P45 wasn't from this tax year it wouldn't be all that much help.
Of course - if they have no idea what they are doing they would tell you that, wouldn't they? Obviously they didn't offer any explanation.

As you say - hopefully it will get sorted once you speak to HMRC and tell them this is your main job.

Scaredy_Cat_3

Thanks for all the help! I hadn't realised that it mattered that the P45 was from the previous tax year, and (perhaps stupidly) just assumed that the Tax office and payroll would sort things out between them, but it seems not!

Let's hope we get it sorted for next month! Thanks to everyone for the advice!

PlutoinCapricorn

The whole thing seems like a big pain, but such confusion is very common when part time jobs are concerned. Just keep telling both your payroll department and HMRC that the part-time PAYE job is now your main source of income, and they should apply the personal allowance to it immediately, and maybe even give you a refund soon.

And when you complete the online return next year, if there are any small differences you will get a refund then.

It seems worth hanging on to your self-employed status, as you never know what small jobs might come up. You do need to justify being registered self-employed by bringing in some income, preferably from a variety of sources.

fengirl_2

But if you continue to be registered as self employed, you will be paying class 2 NIC for no reason - and be lumbered with the job of self assessing at the end of the year, even if you have nothing to declare.

Scaredy_Cat_3

fengirl wrote: »

But if you continue to be registered as self employed, you will be paying class 2 NIC for no reason - and be lumbered with the job of self assessing at the end of the year, even if you have nothing to declare.

When I registered as self employed I also applied for NI exemption since I wouldn't be earning enough to justify it. I assume it will be deducted from my salary now that I'm working again, which is fine, but I shouldn't need to pay a second lot.

Scaredy_Cat_3

Thanks. I have now completed and posted the P46 - I hope my employer with make use of it. Whether or not they do, I will still ring the Tax Office next week and inform them that this job is my main employment, so hopefully it will get sorted that way.

You are correct that the mystery shopping income is peanuts - in fact it's less than peanuts now that I'm working at a proper job as I don't have as much free time to search for and conduct the mystery shopping jobs.

PlutoinCapricorn

I am wondering whether it was necessary to register as self employed in the first place: some people who get extra income just inform HMRC who send a form.This applies to small amounts and one-offs: it is not appropriate to be self-employed just for pocket money. There is probably a maximum amount involved here.

If you are earning or trying to earn a living by doing regular and substantial work as a self-employed person it is a different matter.

Scaredy_Cat_3

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

I am wondering whether it was necessary to register as self employed in the first place: some people who get extra income just inform HMRC who send a form.This applies to small amounts and one-offs: it is not appropriate to be self-employed just for pocket money. There is probably a maximum amount involved here.

If you are earning or trying to earn a living by doing regular and substantial work as a self-employed person it is a different matter.

I was out of work for a few years, then started mystery shopping last September. Lots of people over on the mystery shopping thread (on the Up Your Income board) advised that you should register as self employed as soon as you start earning as (whether or not you earn enough to pay tax), you still need to declare the income and could end up in trouble if the tax man finds out and you haven't notified them yourself.

I did what I thought was the correct thing to do to keep everything legal and avoid problems.

I suppose it depends on your definition of 'pocket money'. As I wasn't working and didn't qualify for JSA or any other benefits (except child benefit), it wasn't pocket money to me... it was money I needed to pay the bills. We couldn't have managed without that money.

The problem now seems to be because I have been honest and declared the income (prior to getting this job), now the tax man thinks that mystery shopping is my main occupation and the job is secondary.

On a separate note, I've just phoned payroll and it turns out I've sent the P46 to the wrong address! :mad: I sent it to the address I had to return my contract to, which is in a completely different part of the country to where payroll are based. I'll have to print off another one and do the whole bloomin' thing again! :mad:

EDIT: Can anyone help me please? Yesterday I saw a link to a P46 to print out but now I can't find it and can't find a similar link on the HMRC website. All I can find is the pdf document on the HMRC website. I was thinking I could email myself the link to my work email and print it there and then post it to payroll in the internal mail - but I'm not sure if a pdf work work as easily for me.

PlutoinCapricorn

The self employment has certainly caused problems, but perhaps you needed it to be acceptable to the mystery shopping company at the time- although there is the casual worker possibility, where they deduct PAYE and NI. It really was your main source of income at the time, but that no longer applies. So everything makes sense, you just need to inform everyone that your new job is the main source of income now, so that the Personal Allowance will be applied.

So the end is in sight. And if anything else comes up, you still have self-employed status.

Scaredy_Cat_3

Jimmo - thanks for that link!

Pluto - thanks again for the advice. I must admit I hesitated over registering as self employed as it seemed a lot of hassle when I was earning so little and knew I wouldn't be liable for tax. However, there were a lot of warnings over on the Up Your Income thread of the dire consequences of getting caught by the tax man, so it seemed safest to register as self employed.

I don't think casual worker status was an option as the mystery shopping companies don't deduct tax or NI and they state it's up to us to register and take care of that side of things ourselves. Also, I work for a number of different companies, so even if one did deduct PAYE, the others wouldn't. I didn't see any other option.

I am a little anxious about how complicated my next tax return might be, but at least, as you say, it's all in place so I'll just see how it goes.

Bit worried I won't be able to get through to the tax office next week to get them to change their records - I guess they are telling everyone to ring back next week so the phone lines will be manic!!!