Telling HMRC im no longer self employed??

farmerjimbo

Hi

I recently registered with HMRC as being self employed. However this job which i was working in as self employed has now ended.

Can anybody advise whether or not it would be best to call HMRC and tell them im no longer working as self employed or is it ok to remain registered as self employed until i find my next job (whether that be employed or self employed) ??

Cheers for any advice anyone can give

PlutoinCapricorn

You will still need to complete a tax return for the current year 2012/2013, and there is a date field where you notify them officially when you stopped trading. You could also write to HMRC now, but the tax return is the main place to give them this information.

So if you get some work between now and then, you are still self employed. Re-registering would be a pain - if you think there is a chance of more SE work then why not just carry on. Many SE people have gaps in their assignments, and you can still take on PAYE work if it is offered.

farmerjimbo

Thankyou for that plutoincapricorn

I understand that i will still have to complete a tax return. And i take that the date when i stopped training is when the job i was doing finished the other day?

The main reason i was asking was just to check that its not illegal to remain registered as self employed whilst not actually earning any money from working?

Thanks again

InsideInsurance

There is certainly nothing "illegal" about it but it will mean you will need to continue making your class 2 NI contributions or claim small earning exception during the period of no active trading

PlutoinCapricorn

One aspect of being self employed is that you can charge enough to support yourself during the periods when business is quiet.

HMRC know very well that work is not always available for 5 days or 35 hours per week. Sometimes it is seasonal - if you do craft work and make things to sell you would expect a lot of orders before Christmas for example. So it is certainly not illegal to remain registered even when you are not actually doing anything, provided that you still hope to get some more work. It may cause problems if you are getting Working Tax Credits though.

You only need de-register when you decide for certain that you are not going to even look for more SE work. The day you finished the job/made your final sale is the day you stopped trading.

colino

No you don't tell them that your short-term work has ended, that's not the point of being self-employed. They might in fact raise their collective eyebrows and wonder if that short-term work was genuinely self-employment or was it an employer trying to bypass your rights and their proper contributions.

Notmyrealname

farmerjimbo wrote: »

Hi

I recently registered with HMRC as being self employed. However this job which i was working in as self employed has now ended.

You're self employed so the job can't have ended because it never existed. The work you did for your client might have but that doesn't mean your business has. As a self employed person running a business you're supposed to be looking for more business which is part of being self employed.

Notmyrealname

farmerjimbo wrote: »

Hi

I recently registered with HMRC as being self employed. However this job which i was working in as self employed has now ended.

You're self employed so the job can't have ended because it never existed. The work you did for your client might have but that doesn't mean your business has. As a self employed person running a business you're supposed to be looking for more business which is part of being self employed.

When your local plumbers don't have work for a week, you don't find them packing up and restarting when they get their next job.