Second job, when I'm not earning anything from the first....

jstar84

Hello,
I've a perhaps uncommon situation where I'm a salaried employee of one company but in July I'll be embarking on a year of unpaid leave. I'll be out of the country / here but not working for I'd say 8 months of that, but I intend to work freelance for the other four to pick up a bit of cash.
I have no idea what the tax implications of this are however.....I'll receive around 8000 gross from the months I'll be working with my main employer for this financial year, so what does that mean when it comes to paying tax on the second income? Does the tax man just look at what I *should* be earning regardless of whether I'm actually turning up or not?

I haven't actually got a second job yet, but I envisage joining an umbrella company and letting them sorting out the particulars....

Any help greatly appreciated

CLAPTON

if you worked freelance as a self employed person then the tax would be sorted out via self assessment after april next year

agrinnall

If you are doing the freelance work through an umbrella company they will deduct tax and NI (employee and employer) to hand over to HMRC. Because you won't have a P45 from your first employer you will pay tax on a second employment basis, which would usually mean a tax code of BR so you'll pay basic rate tax on everything you earn.

It might be possible to get HMRC to transfer your personal allowance to the new employment then transfer it back once you return to your first job, but that's a bit complicated so it might be simpler to just pay the tax then do your self assessment as early as possible after next April 6th so that you can get the tax repaid quickly. If you're doing that make sure you register for online SA in advance so you're not waiting for a UTR. There is usually a few days delay before SA opens for the year, once you have submitted it the refund takes around a week to be paid into your account - I got mine on April 25th this year.

jstar84

Ok, so it sounds like the simplest course of action is to take the hit up front and sort it out come the end of the year - much obliged.