Currently S/E & on WTC but want to quit this business and start new one

PixiePuss

I've been s/e for 2 years and on Working Tax credits. Currently I work over 40 hrs and am single parent to one child (aged 6). The rent where I live is crippling me and I am sick to death of the work I currently do. I am thinking of downsizing house and starting a new line of work as a self employed writer.

I have not really been earning much in my existing line of self employment, maybe 150 a week on a good week .For my first years tax return I owed 0 in tax and it's going to be the same with my 2nd tax return. Everything I do earn subsidizes the rent which is a ridiculous 750 a month. My work depresses me , I want a radical change in my life .

Am I allowed to CHANGE my business - ie ring up the Tax credits people and tell them I am no longer going to be doing the current line of work and instead am going to start over as a writer. (Please don't laugh, I've spent the past year doing research whenever I can fit it in and in my heart of hearts JUST want to write and not do the other thing I've been doing for 2 yrs).

1. would being a researcher/writer qualify as an occupation for self employment ? I know for sure I'd be pulling way over 40 hours a week doing it, I often do that already around my paid work

2. I'd expect to make ZERO income for at least a year, and I'm not talking of no profits/breaking even I'm talking NO income from the business whatsoever. If you are working FT s/e but making NOTHING do you still qualify for WTC ? Basically I'd be going from earning XK a year s/e to earning 0....

3. I'd have to notify the Tax Office that I'm starting a new business but would being a writer qualify as a business ? !

I currently claim no housing benefit or council tax benefit but would be eligible on a zero income .

Thanks in advance

nannytone_2

i could write/research for 40 hours a week but it doesnt make it a job!
i dont want to sound heartless, but you have a child to support and doing 'something that you really want to' doesnt come into the picture!
you say you make £150 in a good week, doing a job you dont enjoy?
how many other people do you think 'enjoy' their jobs?
what youre asking for is permission to 'follow a dream' whist earning nothing and being totally dependant on benefit.
i'm afraid you dont or shouldnt have that luxury!

PixiePuss

I'm not asking for your personal opinion about my choices , I'm asking for advice about the issue. I'd have enough to live on with the WTC and CTC , in fact I'd be better off a bit as could actually claim Housing Benefit then as well. Currently everything I earn and a chunk of WTC goes on rent alone. My child does just fine and not that it's any of your business but I was actually thinking of just taking a year out. I am depressed with my work which does not make for a happy mummy, does it ? I need a break from it with a view to returning once my book is done . I want to build a web presence with my research and there are ways of making some money doing that, I'm just not banking on it . I may or may not earn anything for a year or so but financially my son and I will be better off.

nannytone_2

so stay as you are employment wise and downsize!
that would give you more disposable income.
you entitled to take a year out if you can fund it!
but you want taxpayers to fund it!
what do you think we did before tax credits?
we worked!!

Owain_Moneysaver

To claim working tax credits you need to work more than 16 hours per week and pay yourself at least the National Minimum Wage. Otherwise there is no proof that you are working.

Might be different if you can show you have a contract from a publisher that you are working towards.

jellytastic

I dont think that there is a national minimum wage if you are self employed - not sure though, but worth looking into.

AnxiousMum

Interesting Jelly - so I could say that I'm self employed as a caterer - stick some signs around the place, make my prices so ridiculously expensive that I wouldn't get any jobs, collect the child tax credits, housing benefit, council tax rebate because I have no earnings, my kids could have free school dinners every day, because of the distance to school from here, they could get transportation and I wouldn't even have to get out of my jammies in the morning let alone scramble around making lunches, getting ready for my own work, getting the kids ready for school, making sure I have petrol in the car to get them to school - and I would have more money each month than I earn in my job (considering the housing benefit etc.)?

I would love to have my own business - reality of it is that it won't feed my kids, so at this time in their lives, I have to slog it out at my job, (which, luckily, I thoroughly enjoy) - but life would be so much easier for me in the role outlined above. However, having children to fed, clothe etc., it doesn't really make it a choice that I currently have does it?

I did used to have a printing business producing 10,000 community newsletters every two weeks - used to sell the ads, design the layout, do the printing, brought in neighbour mums to do the collating etc. My three younger children were ages newborn, 2 and 4 yrs - needless to say, my older boys had suggested that '3 AM Graphic Productions' was a more appropriate name for the business, as that's when I tended to do all the non telephone work.

Save your dreams for when you can afford them.

jellytastic

AnxiousMum Im not saying that due to the fact that there is no minimum wage for self-employed that it is morally right to set up a business with nil income - I am simply stating the facts.

Until I became too disabled to carry on with my work I had my own very successful business and I do hope that one day when I can find something I can do from a wheelchair and with limited use of most of my muscles I will be able to set up a new business, possibly some type of office based consultancy service. I am fully aware that whatever I do may not generate income straight away but surely I would still be classed as self employed if I was working towards taking an income at some point?

AnxiousMum

My apology Jelly - I was being totally sarcastic IE - I could 'legally' go self employed, intentionally not making any earnings.......and be better off REALLY just taking the P*** out of the system.