Can you be employed and self-employed????

sarmia

I currently work for a licensed property agent and am employed normally which I do not want to change, however I think I can make a bit of dosh selling something I have designed on eBay.

Now how woiuld this work with the taxman, could I carry on being employed with my normal job but could I become self-employed with regards to the stuff I am selling on eBay. This probably makes no sense but it is quite confusing.

Any help or advise would be appreicated.

Thanks

Becles

Yes you can be employed and self employed at the same time. I am!

You need to register as self employed with the Inland Revenue. Do this within 3 months of starting otherwise you may be fined £100. Read up on it here: www.hmrc.gov.uk

Then after April 5th, you'll have to fill in a self assessment tax return. You can do this on paper or online.

You put all your details of employment in one section (just copy the figures from your P60), then details of your self employment earnings in another section. There are additional pages for any other income. Once it's complete, they will tell you how much tax you owe if you submit the form before September 30th.

Savvy_Sue

And put the tax aside as you're going along, because although you can deduct certain expenses from your income, you WILL be liable to pay about 25% of what's left!

You'll also need to pay self-employed NICs, or if you expect your income to be low you can 'opt out' but you do have to do that in advance.

Good advice from Becles, and if you phone your local tax office they are usually very helpful, honest.

There's also a Small Biz board here which might be useful to you.

sarmia

I am on smp til Dec 31st would this be affected????

Becles

I don't think you can do any work at all while you are on SMP, apart from 10 Keeping In Touch days.

I'm currenly on Maternity Allowance, and apart from the KIT days, I'm not allowed to do any employed or self employed work without losing MA.

sarmia

ok..... what if we opened a business??? Could go in my partners name but he wouldnt want it to effect his normal job too.

Would that affect it??????

Or does anyone else have any other ideas???

sarmia

Really i want to know how we make things and sell them on eBay and how we declare it. thanks

soolin

sarmia wrote: »

Really i want to know how we make things and sell them on eBay and how we declare it. thanks

If you have specific ebay questions then you might get a better response on the ebay forum where there are quite a few entrepreneurs, you can even get tax advice about what records to keep to satisfy the tax man when running an ebay business.

However for specific tax advice you seem to be doing nicely on here! As has been said already you can run a business and be self employed when employed elsewehere (I do both). However you cannot while you are on SMP. If you put the work into your partners name he will obviously be liable for all the tax etc and any hassle should things go wrong. You would for instance need their details on the ebay account and paypal account as if you use your own details it will be obvious to anyone looking that you are cheating by passing off your business as someone elses.

Becles

sarmia wrote: »

Or does anyone else have any other ideas???

You could start the buiness in December when your SMP finishes.

In the mean time, use the time off to research suppliers, do business plans etc.