Can I do this? Husband pays me......

I'mgettingthere!!

Hello there,

I would be very grateful for some advise please.......

My husband is SE, he has to be to fit in around my illness and the kids. I have not worked for 8 years due to health issues, much worse in the last 3 years due to diabolical medical professionalism (this has now been addressed and an apology has been received*.........)

I have been signed off for 3 years now and prior to that I just treated myself like a mum/housewife, allbeit a very broke one!!

We do not claim benefits...... other than T/C and CTC......I have just applied for DLA, I have had the forms for 3 years but have been too ill to claim before............I don't think I will get it...... We are now broke as all our savings have been used to pay the rent/council tax over the years..........

"I have recently been on new treatment and have been advised that a little P/T work may be beneficial to my condition ....... I don't know where to begin workwise as I feel so out of touch........

A friend has suggested I do some work for my Husband (a. to earn a few quid/self worth and b. to try and get me to interact daily with something other than me and my illness!). He runs two small businesses, is out most days when I am well enough and then has a workshop in the garden where he creates away most of the evening....... I already do his paperwork for free, which is fairly minimal, I can usually do his years accounts in a couple of days........I just see this as supoorting him as he does so much already and is creative not a book keeper!!

My question is this.........If I do 8 hours a week work for his craft business, ie washing glass ready for him to paint, collecting driftwod/ bottles/glass putting glass in and out of the oven as he paints it....etc. can he pay me £40 a week = to £2080 P/Y ?

My friend has suggested I would not have to declare this money as I do not pay tax or N/I......I am finding this very hard to fathom.......

If he can pay me a wage where do I put this in his accounts? And where would He/I stand, would He/I then have to declare it to HMRC even though I am a non taxpayer? I would surely, obviously, have to declare to the T/C & CTC people that I am now working 8 hrs and earning £40 P/W?

Sorry the post is so long...... any advise would be most welcome as I suffer from huge anxiety anyway and can't bear the thought of not being correct and then having to face the wrath of HMRC!

Thank you in advance.......

Judith_W

Hi, I would suggest posting on the benefits board or the employment board as they may have more idea about the implications. Well done on being well enough and so motivated!

Judith_W

PS I would have thought he is in effect employing you so he may have to pay employer NI, you would need to declare but as you are not earning enough to be over the threshold to pay any tax etc it wouldn't make a difference

Elaine_Wilson

What you describe is perfectly legal.

HMRC will often enquire into such cases and will expect you to be paid no more than the going rate for the job you do. You must actually do the work too as otherwise it will be seen as a way of your husband reducing his tax by using part of your personal allowance.

As for the accounts you would put this as a deduction in the profit and loss account. The tax return has a box for Wages, salaries and other staff costs.

Providing you have no other taxable income you would not have to notify HMRC that you are receiving the income from an income tax point of view. I think it might be advisable to tell the Tax Credit people of the arrangement but stress that overall your household income will not increase.

Your husband will in theory be operating a payroll. You should complete and sign a form P46 which can be downloaded from the HMRC website here. This will be his authority not to deduct tax from your salary and he should be able to produce this if required.

One last thing - HMRC often insist on your wages being actually paid to you, not just included with his own drawings. I don't think they are right but best to do this to save any arguments later.

zygurat789

My question is this.........If I do 8 hours a week work for his craft business, ie washing glass ready for him to paint, collecting driftwod/ bottles/glass putting glass in and out of the oven as he paints it....etc. can he pay me £40 a week = to £2080 P/Y ?

No. This is less than the minimum wage.
All time paid for must be justifiable

Your husband should pay you the market rate for all the work you do although you may choose to keep it below the tax and NI paying threshold to avoid the administrative burden of a PAYE scheme.

You do have to declare this money on your claims for tax credits, but your husbands income will be coorespondingly less so you will not receive any more or less. If you earn more than the NI threshold then you have to declare it by applying for a PAYE scheme.

The expense would appear in your husbands accounts as "wife's wages".
This is done all the time, It is perfectly legal. Just think of yourself as an employee of your husbands and carry on from there.

John_Pierpoint

Make sure you log off for lunch and tea breaks (Mc Donald's style?) and that should get you down to minimum wage:rotfl:

Current NMW rates

There are different levels of NMW, depending on your age and whether you are an apprentice. The current rates are:

• £5.93 - the main rate for workers aged 21 and over
• £4.92 - the 18-20 rate
• £3.64 - the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18
• £2.50 - the apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship

The age at which you become entitled to the main rate was reduced from 22 to 21 on 1 October 2010. The apprentice rate was introduced on the same date.