tax credits and self employed

fkelanne

hiya all, ive got an intreview with the CAB on thursday about working..
At the mo i work 16 hours over 5 days. I love working and like to show my children that you have to work to get nice things..
My question is could i go self employed and still get working tax credits?
Ive been thinking about doing the avon, boby shop or ann summers.
I would be working 16 hours a week, but the amount i get paid goes off how much i make, can i still get working tax credits?
Also how do housing benifit work out what i should get?

Hammyman

Yes you can. HB would want to see the accounts periodically - the period varies from council to council.

podperson

As long as you are still working over 16hrs a week on a self-employed basis you can still claim wtc. They generally ask for average earnings (as obviously might not be the same from week to week) and then an official number at the end of the tax year. Housing benefit tend to ask for updates on a more regular basis so you would proabably need to send them proof of earnings every so often (where I used to live it was monthly).

fkelanne

what if i dont make any money?

Hammyman

Then your income for the year is zero and tax credits are calculated accordingly. If you have genuinely not earned any profit ON PAPER and have done your accounts fairly and not cooked the books then don't worry as its common for new businesses to make a loss in the first year and every so often during their lifetime.

I'll give the naysayers some examples:

I go to an auction to buy some laptops. I only buy three @ £125 because they're going for silly money (believe me they are - I'm paying 50% more for 3-4 year old ones than I was paying for new boxed ones 18 months ago). It is a 212 mile round trip. Costs me £20 in fuel but I claim mileage as I'm allowed to at HMRC rates of 40p per mile which works out at £84.80. I sell the three laptops at £150 each.

So for those three laptops.
Purchase price £375
Travel £84.80

Total Expense £459.80

Income £450.

Total for the deal is a loss of £9.80.

Its still worth me doing it because REAL costs are lower than the HMRC rates - £20 in diesel plus around another £2 in wear and tear so the actual real in my pocket amount is a profit of £53.

And for those who have owt to say about it, I am doing it all perfectly legally and above board. However in my previous business where I supplied myself as a HGV driver, I only had mileage and a few inconsequential costs I could claim so there was no way to make a loss on paper on that job.

kennethw_2

can I ask for advice re Housing benefit self employed. I've run my own gardening/handyman service for 10 years, have claimed tax credits, no problems with HMRC.

I was forced to move into private rented accomodation in that the local council decreed that I was not entitled to live on the farm where I have been living previously.

My claim for housing benefit and council tax benefit has been going on for 5 months now and there are 2 issues

1. they refuse to pay any benefit for the first 10 weeks of my claim due to "my delay in submitting my accounts"., despite the fact that they would not process my claim because they needed further information on other issues. This mainly was due to my need to draw upon my savings to pay the bills associated with the flat. It's a big leap from giving a farmer £20 a week to have a caravan on his farm to £550 a month, payable 6 months in advance to a flat with the associated bills. So they keep asking where monies have come from. These monies have come from my pension

I applied 13th March so would not have been able to complete my accounts on this date. They were still asking for additional information in May and not processing my claim ntil they had all the necessary documentation, but have made an issue regarding the delay in submitting my accounts as reason not to pay any benefit for over 2 months.

I made 5 visits to the offices with documentation and as per their letter informed them that I was unable to provide documentation within the requested timescale, such as being given 4 working days to request additional bank statements to be delivered to the council offices

2. They are not allowing £2700 of motoring expenses, relating to fuel expenses, claimig that I can run my business, including the use of power tools on £20 a week. This means that I currently have a shortfall of approx £35 a week rent, and £430 annually council tax.

I have appealed against this and despite showing my accounts and proof of expenditure, they have refused to reconsider the above

The CAB have assessed my case and their result is that I should only contribute about £12.50 rent, which would have been covered for 9 months if my claim was allowed from date of claim and £3.50 a week council tax.

It seems odd that both the Inland revenue and the Tax credits people accept my accounts while the council can come to a different decision and apparently not be obliged to divulge the reasons for arriving at their decision. I feel that I need facts to argue that they have not applied their rules correctly in my case

Any advice appreciated

karenx

fkelanne wrote: »

what if i dont make any money?

Why would you want to do all that work if you know you wont make anything? Work more hours. Or get paying job.

I know people who start up all these things and as everyone and their dog does them everyone they go to already has someone who they get avon etc from.
I personally would do research first before doing that, is there going to be enough people buying from you in order for you to make any money? I wouldnt do all that work with delivering and collecting to make no money from it.