Self employed and part time employed at same time

robbybobson

Hi all,

Sorry if this has been asked before.

I have been self employed since April last year and I am starting a Saturday job next week for which I will be paid monthly.

At the moment I have not paid any tax for my business and have been making the minimum NI contributions on a quarterly basis. I have only earned around 5-6k so far so I am about to go over the threshold for tax.

My Saturday job is only going to pay minimum wage and will be about 5-6 hours a week. I am still looking for other bits and pieces till my business picks up.

Can anyone explain to me in simple terms how I will have to pay my tax and NI and will I be entitled to WTC. I will be working over 30 hours a week in total although a lot of my business hours are chasing work and will not necessarily be bringing in money.

I have tried looking at the HMRC site but it does not seem especially helpful for any situations that are not simple.

Much obliged,

Paul

Sixer

Your PAYE Saturday job will be taxed and NId as if it were your only job, so there won't be any deductions as you won't be earning enough in that job to pay tax or NI.

When you complete your self assessment form for the year, HMRC will work out your tax on the basis of both your employed and self-employed income added together and send you the usual bill.

robbybobson

Ok that makes sense thanks Sixer.

How complicated will WTC application be? My wife is also self employed and when we where trying to get council tax benefit it was pretty much a full time job keeping the council up to date with earnings/profit/hours etc for her and my jobs. In the end we where entitled to very little because we are earning so much money. (approx 8k a year between us) It seems to me that WTC will be the same. I don't want hours and hours or stress and phonecalls and then be told we are entitled to 10p!

LindaJane47

Hi there, I am in the same situation and was SSSOOOO glad to go above the council tax threshold as claiming it was such a pain in the wotsit.

Claiming tax credits is a doddle in comparison, and much more worthwhile. I can't remember the cut off for WTC, but seem to think it is about £17,000 or so for a couple with no children - huge apols if this is way off.... but it is quite a lot. So basically, if you are earning less than that, it is definately worth applying for. Also, even if you only get a small amount, you are entitled to free prescriptions, dentist etc.

It is all based on your last tax years income - first thing to do is to work that out (gross of course) for yourself and your wife. Have the figures handy, a rough idea is ok at this stage. You will need SE income, employed income, savings income, anything else..... then go to the tax credits calculator and fill in the form. This will tell you if you are entitled to anything and how much. Irritatingly, it gives you an amount for the rest of the tax year as from today, not per week, so you still have to do a bit of maths... but it will give you a broad brush idea. Then if youa re entitled, you ring them up and ask for a claim form.

A word of advice with WTC.... ALWAYS tell them the truth and be as accurate as possible, ALWAYS tell them if there are ANY changes - don't just go by what the 'changes you should tell us about' list says, and ALWAYS keep a record of what you ahve said and when. The reason i say this is that they do seem to have some difficulty with 'non-standard' claims.... eg several times, they have told me I had an overpayment (not true - won on appeal) and they are currently overpaying me (a proper overpayment this time) despite my telling them repeatedly. they really are pretty hopeless in some circumstances.

Making the claim is easy though

good luck