Self assenment worries

Jobbydooze

Hi

I am hoping somebody can help me as I am worrying about my self assesment

A little background. I was on benefits up until March 21st this year when I became a self employed mobile nail tech so all this self assesment is new to me and I have no clue what to include

I get housing benefit, council tax benefit, child benefit and tax credit (work under 16 hours) do I add this as income? as in do I add up all the benefits I got from April 6 2011 to April 5 2012 and include the few days I worked as self employed from March 22 to April 5th?

Thank you for any help it's really stressful

ceeforcat

None of the benefits mentioned are taxable so - No, do not include.

John_Pierpoint

When did you register as self employed ? What date did you put down as the start of trading? When did you issue your first invoice? When did you first pay into your business bank account?

[Quite frankly as a fellow tax payer I would not really want to finance any sort of HMRC investigation into your status during the last few days of fiscal 2011/12, just because you have a discrepancy in your dates; when you are obviously trying to act responsibly now].

ceeforcat knows a lot more about this than I do; you are in good hands.

Jobbydooze

Thanks for the reply it made me wonder as when I signed off JSA I got a lettter/ P45 saying total pay including taxable benefit to date which made me think it was taxable :S

So I just include what I earnt from March 22 to April 5th 2012?

Jobbydooze

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

When did you register as self employed ? What date did you put down as the start of trading? When did you issue your first invoice? When did you first pay into your business bank account?

[Quite frankly as a fellow tax payer I would not really want to finance any sort of HMRC investigation into your status during the last few days of fiscal 2011/12, just because you have a discrepancy in your dates; when you are obviously trying to act responsibly now].

ceeforcat knows a lot more about this than I do; you are in good hands.

I signed off JSA on March 21st 2012 and I registred as self employed from March 22 2012 that is when I first started trading/earning. I have an account open for business but to be honest I dont make that much it mostly never gets put in it goes straight on bills I put cash in when I need to buy anything I need for business, is this wrong? Investigation sounds scary

whitewing

If investigations sound scary, you can get tax investigation insurance which covers the cost up to a certain value of an accountant. My accountant offers this insurance, but I don't know if you can still get insurance if you don't have an accountant.

Jobbydooze

I dont have an accountant

John_Pierpoint

When I said "investigation" I did not mean the example I witnessed in the Pullman dining car when 4 apparent tax inspectors were going to Lancashire to turn over a family business, where the owner had recently died - I meant an annoying letter querying something you have put in your Self Assessment on-line tax return.
If it looks right you are most unlikely to hear anything more about it.

Be honest - none of us know you - you have now been self employed for just about 9 months - what is your turnover/revenue since start.
[Then we can have a go at talking about expenses - there are some good accountants on here, who can explain the tax angles for free on here but more expensively if you could afford their charges].

Are you making enough profit to live on as master of your own destiny?

Jobbydooze

I dont make very much maybe £50 per week some weeks a lot less

ceeforcat

Jobbydooze wrote: »

Thanks for the reply it made me wonder as when I signed off JSA I got a lettter/ P45 saying total pay including taxable benefit to date which made me think it was taxable :S

So I just include what I earnt from March 22 to April 5th 2012?

Ah Yes, but you did not mention JSA in your first post and. indeed, this is taxable (or at least the amount of which is paid by reason of unemployment as it used to be). This should indeed be included.

I believe that John may have been fishing to see if, by some chance, you did not actually work, invoice, receive payment until after 5th April (although HMRC will generally turn a blind eye if a trade commences on 1st April and allow it to be treated as starting in the new tax year). If no income had been received, you could well have been justified in claiming that the business started in the new tax year.

However, you also state that you have registered with HMRC on 22nd March - presumably for Self assessment. It is likely, therefore, that you will have received a notice to file a return for 2011/12 and it must be completed. If this is the case (log on and see), you need to include the self employed income from 22nd March to 5th April together with the JSA.

You state that you do not have an accountant and I would question the wisdom of that. I have always found it difficult to understand why the one expense where one can save the most money (not to mention grief) is the first one to be ditched. That is your choice and my views on this are just that -my views.

John_Pierpoint

You are spot on about fishing for the possibility that the business did not really get going until the 6th April.

Jobbydooze has gone into self employment, much as I did though at a considerably younger age. Rather than rot on the dole, being hassled about how many mind numbing "mac" jobs she had turned down, she is trying to stand on her own feet. [and playing along with the politicians who are delighted to discover the country is turning into a nation of self employed poorly remunerated citizens that do not appear on the unemployment statistics but do appear in the value added per worker dropping - wonderful that lifts lots of children out of child poverty - rant over ].

Well we are where we are - trying to give tax advice to someone on £2,500 a year turnover and making a profit of ? [But who can proudly say "I am no longer on the dole"].

So let us see what we can do.

[I don't think applying for exemption from class 2 National Insurance is quite appropriate at this age?]