Contracting as a second income

tails009

Thanks Sue,

I'm not delivering the module, I'm helping out more in an advisory role. I had a look at the link you posted and it would seem i fall somewhere between the two? Quoting the HMRC:

You are probably self-employed if you:

• run your own business and take responsibility for its success or failure - NO
• have several customers at the same time - Not in this instance but in theory I might.
• can decide how, when and where you do your work - YES
• are free to hire other people to do the work for you or help you at your own expense - NO
• provide the main items of equipment to do your work - YES

You are probably employed if you:

• have to do the work yourself - YES
• work for one person at a time, who is in charge of what you do and takes on the risks of the business - YES
• can be told how, when and where you do your work - NO
• have to work a set amount of hours - NO
• are paid a regular amount according to the hours you work, and get paid for working overtime - even if you do casual or part-time work, you can still be employed - I would submit hours worked which may vary week on week and th uni would pay me based on this.

I will speak to the uni and see what they say as I'm sure they have other contractors in this situation (although probably working much more hours).

nomunnofun

I would submit hours worked which may vary week on week and th uni would pay me based on this.

That would be a big factor in determining your self-employed status. How many self-employed people get paid a weekly wage?

tyllwyd

I'm a self-employed freelance editor and I've done some work for a publishing press connected to a University. The finance department at the University was quite fussy about it, and I had to fill in a form with questions similar to the ones you've quoted, so that they had proof that they had established my self-employed status. Have you spoken to the finance department at the university? They might have a clear idea of what basis they would want you to work on, and they have probably been through the same questions with other contractors.

tails009

Thanks,

Yes I'll speak to the University and see what they are saying. I'm sure they'll be able to advise based on their current contractors.

nd85_2

I am employed (PAYE) but my girlfriend and I do freelance/contracting work in our spare time for a variety of people. I spent a long time working out the most efficient way of doing this. A limited company came out as the most expensive: registration (albeit cheap), accountant fees etc. Just didn't seem worth it.

Instead we opted to form a partnership between the two of us. I bought a cheapo partnership agreement off the interwebs which defines how we share our profits (or losses!). 50/50 as it happens. I registered the partnership with HRMC (online) and we both registered for self assessment. Come tax return time, we both fill out we'll both fill out one each, and I as the nominated partner also fill out a short additional form detailing the overall partnership accounts.

We invoice under the partnership name.

The biggest benefit here is that I'm a higher rate tax payer, girlfriend is not, so half of our profits are shielded against the 40% rate. Will be completing my first partnership return at the end of April 2013 and feel confident enough to do so without an accountant.

Worth a look.

jimmo

tails009 wrote: »

Thanks,

Yes I'll speak to the University and see what they are saying. I'm sure they'll be able to advise based on their current contractors.

This may be of some interest.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/esmmanual/esm4504.htm