Housing Benefits for Self Employed or Employed

rafhelp

I have been looking into renting my own flat, small and cheap, and running a home based business.

Now it may or may not be easy to calculate your monthly profit. You you have to give them an estimate.

But I wa told that you cant claim HB if you work over 16 hours. But then I read this:

http://www.enfield.gov.uk/info/69/housing-benefit-new_claim/155/housing_and_council_tax_benefits_for_self-employed_people

So I assume the latter is true as its a uk government site?

But say you start a online business with no real idea of income, maybe youre an entrepreuner or maybe your trying something new, how would you estimate your income?

HappyMJ

rafhelp wrote: »

I have been looking into renting my own flat, small and cheap, and running a home based business.

Now it may or may not be easy to calculate your monthly profit. You you have to give them an estimate.

But I wa told that you cant claim HB if you work over 16 hours. But then I read this:

http://www.enfield.gov.uk/info/69/housing-benefit-new_claim/155/housing_and_council_tax_benefits_for_self-employed_people

So I assume the latter is true as its a uk government site?

But say you start a online business with no real idea of income, maybe youre an entrepreuner or maybe your trying something new, how would you estimate your income?

You can start by estimating your "profit" at zero. If you keep a close eye on your accounts you will know if you are starting to make a profit and should notify the council that your estimate is too low. They will then reassess your benefit.

rafhelp

HappyMJ wrote: »

You can start by estimating your "profit" at zero. If you keep a close eye on your accounts you will know if you are starting to make a profit and should notify the council that your estimate is too low. They will then reassess your benefit.

would they surely allow that?

I suppose its like taking a risk, but almost all businesses are taking risks, some do well, others dont.

HappyMJ

rafhelp wrote: »

would they surely allow that?

I suppose its like taking a risk, but almost all businesses are taking risks, some do well, others dont.

Yes and they want to see your books after a short period such as 4 weeks...maybe then after 13 weeks and when it shows consistency every year after the end of the tax year. I've just shown my books from April 2011 to April 2012. If I had shown a large profit I would have had a very large overpayment of over £5,000.

missapril75

There is no reason why you can't claim HB on zero income - although you'd need a satisfactory explanation if asked how you were surviving.

The hours rule relates to DWP benefits. If income is low enough (or zero) one can claim HB no matter how many hours are worked. Not so with DWP benefits.

karenx

Also if you weren't making anything how would you pay your bills? And the housing benefit you get may not cover all your rent, could you afford the top up?

HappyMJ

karenx wrote: »

Also if you weren't making anything how would you pay your bills? And the housing benefit you get may not cover all your rent, could you afford the top up?

Tax credits. Part of the property's rent for a home based business can be claimed as an expense of the business along with a percentage of the running costs. This percentage must be fair and reasonable based on the usable floor area of the property for instance such as 20% if the room used soley for the business is 1 of 5 rooms such as bedrooms and living rooms in the house. Kitchens, bathrooms, hallways and toilets don't count as usable rooms. Housing benefit won't pay any part of this part of the rent so if it's just a little over the LHA rate then you might not want to claim it as an expense and just pay it out of savings.

Anubis_2

Also ensure your LL knows about running a business from home. Depending in the type of business they may not allow it as it can change the premises into "business" premises. It also might be in your tenancy agreement that you are not allowed to run a business from the premises.

rafhelp

missapril75 wrote: »

There is no reason why you can't claim HB on zero income - although you'd need a satisfactory explanation if asked how you were surviving.

The hours rule relates to DWP benefits. If income is low enough (or zero) one can claim HB no matter how many hours are worked. Not so with DWP benefits.

what u mean by dwp please?

missapril75

rafhelp wrote: »

what u mean by dwp please?

Sorry....Department for Work and Pensions. Depending on which benefit is involved, the hours worked can make a difference.

For Housing Benefit (Local Authority) the hours don't matter.