One off little jobs here and there - do I need to be self employed?

holliea

Hi all, looking for advice. I've decided after reading this board that I'm going to do a bit of freelance design work as jobs are so hard to find. I'll be looking to earn £80-100 every month or so so it's not a huge amount. Obviously i'm thinking i need to be letting people know like jsa and housing (i assume?) and i'd much rather make £100 in one week than just £60! but do I need to be self employed?I reckon I won't be making more than that as it will involve working from home as and when I can. I'll be invoicing for my time/work so not selling on ebay and probably using people per hour and doing a few surveys.

I've never done anything like this before!

Catwoman1975

You 100% need to register as self employed. You may get in serious trouble with the tax man if you dont! Even if you are earning 50p a week, you still need to declare it.

holliea

i'll have to start sorting that out before anything then!

Catwoman1975

holliea wrote: »

i'll have to start sorting that out before anything then!

You have 100 days to register and if you earn under 15000 the process is very simple so dont be put off. Better to be safe than sorry!

holliea

Catwoman1975 wrote: »

You have 100 days to register and if you earn under 15000 the process is very simple so dont be put off. Better to be safe than sorry!

Im a novice when it comes to tax so this is all new! it will only be id say £100 max every month or so but no one wants a knock on the door from the tax man lol

McKneff

Are you on JSA and Housing benefit then.

paulineb_2

You cant be unemployed and self employed at the same time as far as I know although things might be changing when the new universal credit comes in, in the respect that self employed people might need to claim UC and also be available to look for work, depending on how much their business is making, when I started my business just over 3 years ago, I let the DWP know my plans, I got a credit for I think it was 10 weeks of 50 quid a week from them and I signed off and claimed WTC

You can still claim HB if you are self employed but Id be very wary of doing anything unless you know you are going to make a living, one off jobs could cause you problems and for £100 a month its possibly not worth your while signing off, you could do, but you cant sign on and be self employed, has to be one or the other.

holliea

paulineb wrote: »

You cant be unemployed and self employed at the same time as far as I know although things might be changing when the new universal credit comes in, in the respect that self employed people might need to claim UC and also be available to look for work, depending on how much their business is making, when I started my business just over 3 years ago, I let the DWP know my plans, I got a credit for I think it was 10 weeks of 50 quid a week from them and I signed off and claimed WTC

You can still claim HB if you are self employed but Id be very wary of doing anything unless you know you are going to make a living, one off jobs could cause you problems and for £100 a month its possibly not worth your while signing off, you could do, but you cant sign on and be self employed, has to be one or the other.

If work comes along I feel so awful in turning it down. but I need that £70 a week because it's guaranteed and work isn't. i'm not doing cash in hand, that's just wrong. i suppose i'll have to wait and find a permanent job. I'll speak to my advisor tomorrow.

HappyMJ

paulineb wrote: »

You cant be unemployed and self employed at the same time as far as I know although things might be changing when the new universal credit comes in, in the respect that self employed people might need to claim UC and also be available to look for work, depending on how much their business is making, when I started my business just over 3 years ago, I let the DWP know my plans, I got a credit for I think it was 10 weeks of 50 quid a week from them and I signed off and claimed WTC

You can still claim HB if you are self employed but Id be very wary of doing anything unless you know you are going to make a living, one off jobs could cause you problems and for £100 a month its possibly not worth your while signing off, you could do, but you cant sign on and be self employed, has to be one or the other.

No problem at all in being unemployed and being self employed at the same time. You can spend up to 16 hours per week on the business. any more and you have to sign off.

skintsocks

Only had a quick read, so apologies if this is duplicate advice. If you do this work, and do the things suggested above, make sure you tell the Tax Credits folk asap, as it can really be a hassle getting the figures re-assessed more than a couple of weeks later (and lots of phone calls). You must keep good notes of all hours and monies earned, and don't rely on memory.

holliea

HappyMJ wrote: »

No problem at all in being unemployed and being self employed at the same time. You can spend up to 16 hours per week on the business. any more and you have to sign off.

That's good as I'll only be doing about 8-10 hours a month. is there a link to go to register?