Telling HMRC I'm no longer self employed?

jackfranklin

Hey,

So I've been self employed for the last 18 months as a web developer whilst doing Uni also and other things. I've never earned enough to pay tax as I only do it on the side when I have time, but I've always done my tax returns properly, never had any trouble, etc.

From next week I am starting a full time job, I stopped being self employed as of this week, and I'm wondering how best to tell HMRC this? There seems to be a lot of conflicting info online.

Some people say I don't need to until the end of this tax year, others say I have to ring, others say not to do anything. I'm very confused. I tried to ring HMRC but spent 40 minutes (and a fair whack of money) on hold to them today before giving up.

Any information you folks can give me will be hugely appreciated!

Thanks,

Jack

Xutl

jackfranklin wrote: »

Hey,

So I've been self employed for the last 18 months as a web developer whilst doing Uni also and other things. I've never earned enough to pay tax as I only do it on the side when I have time, but I've always done my tax returns properly, never had any trouble, etc.

From next week I am starting a full time job, I stopped being self employed as of this week, and I'm wondering how best to tell HMRC this? There seems to be a lot of conflicting info online.

Some people say I don't need to until the end of this tax year, others say I have to ring, others say not to do anything. I'm very confused. I tried to ring HMRC but spent 40 minutes (and a fair whack of money) on hold to them today before giving up.

Any information you folks can give me will be hugely appreciated!

Thanks,

Jack

There's two stages.

First call the national insurance dept for the self-employed. They will stop billing you for Class 2 NIC one you give them a date of cessation.

Opening hours
8.30 am to 5.00 pm, Monday to Friday
Closed weekends and bank holidays
0845 915 4655

Secondly wait until you get your Self Assessment return in April for 2012/13. On there you will need to write your cessation date on the self-employment page.

That should then be the end of it! :cool:

PlutoinCapricorn

Are you sure that you will not get any odd freelance work here and there? Once you have officially stopped, you would have the pain of re-registering. Many people work on a self employed basis in addition to having a PAYE job.

If this is definite, as previously mentioned there is a date field on the tax return where you let them know when you stopped being a sole trader. It is very important that you complete this, otherwise they will keep expecting you to submit returns.

jackfranklin

Thanks for the quick responses. I am absolutely certain I will not be doing any freelance work for a considerable amount of time, and I'd rather just de-register as self employed, to be honest. If I've filled out my tax return to April 6th 2012, is that all I effectively need to do ? I remember on the online form for doing a return there was a field which said "The date your business ceased, if before 6th April 2012", which implied if it finished on that date, I don't need to do anything?

PlutoinCapricorn

The tax year finishes on April 5th, and you have to specifically fill in the date field if you stopped trading during the 2011/2012 tax year. The date you stop depends on what you do - perhaps the day you finished the final piece of work. If this was before April 6th 2012, it goes on the current return.

Xutl

jackfranklin wrote: »

Thanks for the quick responses. I am absolutely certain I will not be doing any freelance work for a considerable amount of time, and I'd rather just de-register as self employed, to be honest. If I've filled out my tax return to April 6th 2012, is that all I effectively need to do ? I remember on the online form for doing a return there was a field which said "The date your business ceased, if before 6th April 2012", which implied if it finished on that date, I don't need to do anything?

Did you get any income between April 6th 2012 and this week?

jackfranklin

Yep, I did get a small amount in from invoices, but not a huge sum. I'm presuming I have to declare that on the next return for April 12-13 and then put the date I finished trading on that return?

Once again, thank you.

Xutl

jackfranklin wrote: »

Yep, I did get a small amount in from invoices, but not a huge sum. I'm presuming I have to declare that on the next return for April 12-13 and then put the date I finished trading on that return?

Once again, thank you.

got it in one - don't forget to call the NI people!:D