prospective employer asking for tax returns

jetplane

Hi my husband is self employed, he has been offered some employment which will be PAYE. He has been asked to send copies of his self assessment tax returns for the last two years. They say that this is part of their screening process to prove his employment record.

I don't feel comfortable about releasing this sort of info. Is it usual practice? Are these documents not confidential? Does it matter if he has been SA or PAYE? Am I making a big deal about nothing?

Anyone out there have experience of this?

Thanks

Emmzi

If the company needs a 5 year employment history, which many do, they need something that evidences he has not been in the clink for those 2 years. This seems a simple way of doing it. Can you think of an alternative?

jetplane

I don't know Emmzi I've never been in this position which is why I'm asking if it's a usual occurence. I hadn't thought about an alternative, probably because I never thought about what checks needed to be done.

I just thought your CV showed your employment history but I suppose if you're self employed there is no employer to ring and confirm.

He has provided all of the ID for them to do a credit check or whatever else they need. If he had been locked up it would be on a CRB check.

Emmzi

there are many dodgy things you could be doing with a break in work history though! Prison is just one example.

They don't need to know the money side of it but if you have nothing else to prove his SE status you'll need to bite the bullet.

persa

jetplane wrote: »

I don't know Emmzi I've never been in this position which is why I'm asking if it's a usual occurence. I hadn't thought about an alternative, probably because I never thought about what checks needed to be done.

A lot of employers want to prove you were doing what you were doing when you said you were doing it - so a reference to cover a period of employment, a letter from the Job Centre to cover a period of unemployment (yes, they even want to check that!) and externally prepared accounts to cover any period of self employment.

Sole traders who are relatively small fry don't need to pay an accountant to do their books, they can do it themselves - so often there aren't externally prepared accounts available. In their absence, tax returns are not unreasonable - because they're not pieces of paper you've knocked up for your own records and no one else has checked, you've had to send them to the tax man so you have taken care to be accurate.

agrinnall

If the self employment has required the production of annual accounts (for instance, if working though a personal limited company) then those accounts are what will be used for verification. If your husband doesn't have those then a good alternative will be his tax returns. If you don't want to provide them then I guess he won't get the job, the employer is entitled to set their own requirements for pre-employment checks.

Sambucus_Nigra

A self-assessment tax return only shows headline figures though - he could still have been unemployed for 11 months and just earnt a huge whack for 1.

I'd be asking what it is they are trying to prove with this...

want-it-all

jetplane wrote: »

Hi my husband is self employed, he has been offered some employment which will be PAYE. He has been asked to send copies of his self assessment tax returns for the last two years. They say that this is part of their screening process to prove his employment record.

I don't feel comfortable about releasing this sort of info. Is it usual practice? Are these documents not confidential? Does it matter if he has been SA or PAYE? Am I making a big deal about nothing?

Anyone out there have experience of this?

Thanks

Pretty normal...a great number of jobs require recruits to account for their past 3-5, even 10 years' history, especially if there's any shred of responsibility in the new role, or there are security implications, etc.

It doesn't matter whether or not he's been SE or PAYE, it just so happens that he has been SE, so this is what they want proof of. They won't be interested in the figures as such, or exactly and precisely what he's been doing, they just need to check that he was occupied in a legit capacity, rather than being a drug runner or similar

jetplane

Thanks Everyone

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

A self-assessment tax return only shows headline figures though - he could still have been unemployed for 11 months and just earnt a huge whack for 1.

I'd be asking what it is they are trying to prove with this...

He did ask and was told it is part of the screening process, and by what others have said, as a sole trader it would seem to be the easiest way.

PS. If he had the potential to earn that much in a month I'd be whipping his a$$ to get out and earn it for the other 11 :rotfl:

Sambucus_Nigra

jetplane wrote: »

Thanks Everyone



He did ask and was told it is part of the screening process, and by what others have said, as a sole trader it would seem to be the easiest way.

PS. If he had the potential to earn that much in a month I'd be whipping his a$$ to get out and earn it for the other 11 :rotfl:

Well, as I haven't seen your tax returns - I wouldn't know how much he earnt in one year - it's irrelevant really as it's the 'principle' of it that I'm getting at. IE if you want to argue the point with them.

RadoJo

jetplane wrote: »

He has provided all of the ID for them to do a credit check or whatever else they need. If he had been locked up it would be on a CRB check.

Does the job actually require a CRB check? If so, then I can completely understand them wanting as much information as possible about his recent employment history.