Self employed tax credits check

FRESTER

Strange the payments have been suspended because mine continued.
I don't have childcare on my claim and wonder if that is something to do with the payments being suspended.
It only took about six days for them to ok it after I sent in the doc's.
Did the letter have a direct dial number for the compliance team,the number my letter had was a Liverpool code.

Heycock

At my age, April is recent!
As to getting S/E on minimum wage...it'll never happen. Not in what they call the basic trades anyway.
My own business as an example....
Private Hire...first 40 hours at a take of £10 hour = £400 covering costs(radio settle, car finance, insurance,fuel, maintenance and licensing).
Next 30 hours for net profit of £300.
Total hours worked 70, total net profit £300.
Average hourly profit(wage)...£4.30

The only way to get up to minimum wage would be a huge hike in fares which would result in a smaller turnover unless loads of drivers left the business which is what USED to happen in the past when times were hard in the trade. Hence in the last 5 years in the business we had just one increase.

FRESTER

Truegho wrote: »

What proof do the Working Tax Credit ask for in regard to self employment? I am contemplating setting up my own freelancing writing business, working 30hrs pwk, but firstly I need to be sure that I will get Working Tax Credit as a self employed person.

They will want to be sure you are working the hours stated and expect to be paid for those hours worked.
It might be tricky to prove you are working 30 hours freelance writing if your not being paid for your work while you build up your contacts etc.

BigAunty

Heycock wrote: »

At my age, April is recent!
As to getting S/E on minimum wage...it'll never happen. Not in what they call the basic trades anyway.
My own business as an example....
Private Hire...first 40 hours at a take of £10 hour = £400 covering costs(radio settle, car finance, insurance,fuel, maintenance and licensing).
Next 30 hours for net profit of £300.
Total hours worked 70, total net profit £300.
Average hourly profit(wage)...£4.30

The only way to get up to minimum wage would be a huge hike in fares which would result in a smaller turnover unless loads of drivers left the business which is what USED to happen in the past when times were hard in the trade. Hence in the last 5 years in the business we had just one increase.

Or the taxi cab company/local council decreases their radio and licence charges once they detect that they will lose drivers, or the taxi driver re-finances to pay off their loan over a longer term, or finds cheaper insurance, and so on, to trim costs, or the taxi driver works longer hours.

A taxi driver earning £700 a week (£36.5k per annum)... and they still need WTC, qualify for housing benefit, council tax benefit, extra child tax credits and so on - more than half their turnover is in business expenses, something must be wrong...

Heycock

BigAunty.

Taxi firms have never reduced radio settle in the history of the trade.
Ditto local authorities and licence fees.
Ditto garages and mechanics.

Cheaper insurance...impossible. Very few insurance firms operate in the market and dictate rates...taxi insurance isn't the same as normal car insurance. With full no claims and a pristine driving record you're looking at £1000 pa minimum rising to up to £8000 for some.

Refinance? As s/e lucky to get ANY sort of finance...only way to refinance is Bankruptcy or debt management...goodbye to any chance of finance in future.

Longer hours...most drivers in private hire now work a minimum 70 hours anyway. How many "extra" hours do you propose. Would you be happy if one of your children was coming back from a club at 4.00am on a sunday morning with a driver who was just finishing an 80hour stint in the last 7 days?

Reduce fares to get more business...been tried. Gets a few more customers at the lower end of the market but loss of income overall.
Increase fares? Outside the until recently unlicensed London area, Hackneys and Private hire are largely competing against subsidised local public transport. Taxis are dependent on it being cheaper for two people to make a short journey by taxi than bus.


£700 a week is a guide...and is TURNOVER. Net profit is what constitutes earnings. I cleared £300 in a GOOD week in the days when I was able to work 70 hours or so. TC was the only extra I got and that is based on the previous year's earnings, not weekly.
Even at £300, that's £15000 pa...under the TC threshold. My profits since starting to care for my wife dropped to around a lot less than that but with her ESA, put us out of the other benefits you mention.

Yes, something IS wrong. The economy.

notanewuser

Truegho wrote: »

What proof do the Working Tax Credit ask for in regard to self employment? I am contemplating setting up my own freelancing writing business, working 30hrs pwk, but firstly I need to be sure that I will get Working Tax Credit as a self employed person.

I've heard everything now.

They'll expect you to earn the equivalent of 30x NMW per week as a rule of thumb. Are you going to be earning a minimum of £180 a week?

Sixer

BigAunty wrote: »

Or the taxi cab company/local council decreases their radio and licence charges once they detect that they will lose drivers, or the taxi driver re-finances to pay off their loan over a longer term, or finds cheaper insurance, and so on, to trim costs, or the taxi driver works longer hours.

A taxi driver earning £700 a week (£36.5k per annum)... and they still need WTC, qualify for housing benefit, council tax benefit, extra child tax credits and so on - more than half their turnover is in business expenses, something must be wrong...

I'd second Heycock. Once you understand the expenses - radio hire (can be three figures a week), hire and reward insurance (way into four figures a year), fuel and car maintenance (HMRC allow 45p per mile for non-taxi business miles, but taxis cost more in terms of wear and tear and 2 MOTs a year, etc), depreciation and replacement - it doesn't take long to work out the maximum take in a week (what is it now? £2 a mile?) is doing bliddy well if it doubles the expenses.

Tracymae

Just updating to say we got a letter back yesterday confirming all is well and they don't have to amend our Tax Credits Heycock, there must be something wrong, they normally don't suspend the payments during their investigation. Worth phoning them methinks, the guy that was dealing with our investigation was very nice and put my mind at ease.