Self Certifcation

GreyPilgrim

I've only ever been in regular full time employment (never self employed or anything) but recently I've done a bit of work for a friend who is paying me £500. It's all above board on his side - he's asked for a receipt and he's paying me by cheque, and he's told me that I'll have to declare this to keep the taxman happy.

Can anyone give pointers on how much hassle is involved in doing this? As I said all matters tax have always been taken care of by the payroll departments I've worked for. Is it a mountain of paperwork? Is it complicated? A couple of people I've asked in person have just said "it's a one off payment - just stick it in the bank and the IR will never know about it" but I know if I did this, I'd always be paranoid that they would find out. Would rather declare it and keep them happy.

Any advice appreciated...

saver_sam

You should declare cos if he is asking for a receipt then its probably going thru his books.

anyway, you just ring the IR and they send you the form next year. Personally I don't think the paperwork is too bad for what you have done. as a minimum you'll need any statements that show interest received, dividends and your P60 to complete the paper form (or do it online) plus what your earnt from this one off.

Also, you never know you might want to do more of whatever you did for your friend and turn it into a sideline

GreyPilgrim

Well there's always the chance it'll turn into a sideline (fingers crossed). Thanks for the advice...was expecting a massive just of paperwork.

Tiggs_2

quite common for the IR to track down your "extra" earnings via the person that paid you and declared it to them.

saver_sam

It looks a little daunting a first but once you see what small amount you need to complete then its not so bad. I would imagine its only when you have trusts, share schemes, capital gains and foreign stuff that it starts to get frightening (but if you can have those you could probably afford someone to look after it for you!)

GreyPilgrim

saver_sam wrote:

It looks a little daunting a first but once you see what small amount you need to complete then its not so bad. I would imagine its only when you have trusts, share schemes, capital gains and foreign stuff that it starts to get frightening (but if you can have those you could probably afford someone to look after it for you!)

Good! I'm only just leaving the "Debt Free Wannabee" forum, so I've got nothing worth mentioning apart from a jar full of 2p's