I've been stupid - P45 and tax question

nickthegreat

hi all,

as the title says, i've been a little stupid with regards my tax/p45, and its putting me off looking for proper employment!

for the last year and a half, since graduating, i've been doing part time bar work at two places whilst studying for oracle exams. neither were willing to put me on the books and paid me cash in hand. stupidly i accepted the situation, thinking that it was better to have a job than not.

anyway, my wages have not gone over the tax threshold for any year, but that hardly seems the point.

i know i can hand in a p60 (*edit - i meant p46) if and when i get a new job but there are several things i am worried about:

1. despite working, if i am offered a job, my new employer must surely question why my taxable income is zero? can i wait to hand a p45 in after april? i'm not particularly worried about HMRC because i haven't been cheating the system. i've been on minimum wage and low income for a long time now. i'm willing to own up to being a bit of an idiot

2. if i do get questioned about my earnings i have no problems answering questions about myself, but i am good friends with one of the owners of the bars, and would rather not drop him in any trouble. is he likely to get in any? as i said, my hours are under the taxable amount, so am i considered casual staff?

thanks for any help, as i said, i've got myself reasonably worried about this, which seems stupid!

*i'm ready for abuse*

nick

purplepardalis

Without telling you off about the rights and wrongs of cash in hand work, I can advise you that when you start a new job you should just fill out a P46. This will generate a tax code for you.

It will ask you whether you have been working since April however. As you haven't been working officially then you need to say that it's your only job since then.

PlutoinCapricorn

A P45 is what you get when you leave a job.

A P60 is only sent to people who are employed on 5th April - by the employers.

P45s soon go out of date, and some people wait for weeks after they leave to get one, so instead new employers ask you to fill in a P46. Whichever box you tick depends on your circumstances - and honesty.

McKneff

The above is good advice.

You seem to have no idea of the tax system, you will learn from the above.

All you can do is keep quiet about the cash working you have done.

nickthegreat

sorry, i meant p46!

in terms of saying 'that's my only job since last april' - well for one i'm not going to tell my new employer this, because its not true, and i'm not sure i want to lie to the taxman either.

eitherway that lie won't hold water, because the next question is 'how have you been supporting yourself'.

what are the options to just confessing to the part time hours i've been working? its not like i've been intentionally hiding them - i haven't really had any choice.

thanks for all your help

nick

PlutoinCapricorn

How did you support yourself while you were at UNI?

You have been studying for Oracle exams for the last 18 months. This is a good reason for not having a job. Did your family help at all? Did you save anything while you were at Uni?

nickthegreat

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

How did you support yourself while you were at UNI?

You have been studying for Oracle exams for the last 18 months. This is a good reason for not having a job. Did your family help at all? Did you save anything while you were at Uni?

hi plutoin, i had a job at uni, which was all above board.

and nope, no savings, and no family help. why is it better to lie about it?

PlutoinCapricorn

I was just thinking of the best way forward for you.

P45s become redundant after a while, so it doesn't matter that you have not got one.

A potential employer is not the DSS. If you can tell them that you worked while at UNI then decided to spend some time relaxing and studying Oracle and did a few odd jobs in bars, it sounds fine. What does your CV say?

nickthegreat

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

I was just thinking of the best way forward for you.

P45s become redundant after a while, so it doesn't matter that you have not got one.

A potential employer is not the DSS. If you can tell them that you worked while at UNI then decided to spend some time relaxing and studying Oracle and did a few odd jobs in bars, it sounds fine. What does your CV say?

my cv slightly overstates my work at the bars, mainly because i think finishing a masters then bumming about/working on oracle for 18months doesn't look great

so if i do get a job, whats the likelihood that the inland revenue will start asking what i've been up to? are you saying that my p45 has no detail on it anyway (ie my last job back at uni) because its over a year ago?

if they do ask me what i've been doing you're saying its best to say i've received hand outs from relatives rather than just say i've been doing part-time work, or claim ignorance and say that i thought it was sorted by my boss/under the hours required to do anything about it?

seems a bit much that i have to lie. oh well....

Firefox1975

What makes you think you are actually getting a P45 when you leave?

if you're not on the books.......................



Oh , I see, its not a P45 from the bar jobs!

Anyway, as others have said, jsut say your previous employer said it is in the post and sign a P46, you maight be on emergency tax for a while until they get it sorted but you certainly do not NEED a P45 to start a new job!

McKneff

You really would be better keeping quiet at this stage about the cash jobs, if not you are going to get every single employer who paid you into trouble because they will go through their accounts too like a dose of salts and they could be prosecuted.