Self Employed Very Late, What to do!

matboo

I had a part time job earning around £4,500 per year and decided to start a website to see if I could make a bit of extra money on the side.

To my surprise the website made the odd bit of money here and there each month, nothing substantial so I thought there was no point registering as self employed because it was more or less a hobby, it was not my proper job.

I have now left my part time job because the website has started to make enough money for me to do so, but I have still not registered as self employed and its been around 8-9 months.

I know its wrong, please don't judge me on this, I'm going to register as self employed tomorrow I just want some advice on what to tell the tax office because I have not registered within the 3 month period.

KiKi

Just tell them the truth. They are generally very good with this sort of thing, as long as you're honest. Explain it was a hobby, and say that in the last couple of months it's really started to generate cash and now you need to register as self-employed so that you can pay the right tax on all your earnings, and make sure you pay them what you owe.

Don't make anything up, just tell them what you've written here, and that you didn't expect it to take off like it did in the last couple of months. As long as you're co-operative, they'll sort you out and hopefully not penalise you for it if you explain it started as a hobby, not a business.

KiKi

Hammyman

9 months...so you're not late for filing a self assessment for 2010-2011 tax year so there's a £100 fine you don't have to worry about. Nothing to add to Kiki's post, its about as good advice as you can get.

Make sure that you've got a good set of books made up though.

smileylondongal

I agree with Kiki, no point in lying and this sort of thing must happen all of the time. All they'll want to happen is to get things straight from now on.