in full-time employment but also have small part-time job (not declared)

abblegabble

Hi,

I work full-time as a programmer but also work as a part-time chimney sweep, although I don't declare this extra income and would not know how to or the pro's and con's of declaring a new business etc.

I earn approx 28k at my IT job and maybe another 5k at the chimney cleaning.

My pickle is I'd like to be confident in advertising fully and honestly for my chimney cleaning job but in doing so i know I am liable to be chased up for paying tax etc on my additional earnings. i know I can get a lot more work which i can take on if i can sat advertise my name on the side of a van, things like this.


can someone advise who i need to speak with, any accountant or who, what amounts i might have to pay in tax ? etc, basically the pros and cons of declaring my extra income

i have a big loan to pay each month from years ago paid as a deposit on a house, i was once told if i was in business that this loan could be used as some kind of offset to the tax i'd have to pay. i'm sure theres other ways and means of offsetting tax.

i want to make the move, i think its the right thing and my mind would be at ease too knowing no-one is chasing me or anything.


as i say its all new to me, so any assistance or advice is most welcome.


thank you

Bonzowaite

abblegabble wrote: »

Hi,



can someone advise who i need to speak with, any accountant or who, what amounts i might have to pay in tax ? etc, basically the pros and cons of declaring my extra income



thank you

No accountant will discuss with you the "pros and cons" of evading tax save to tell you to declare all of your income. Anyone that tries to help you commit a criminal offence is liable to be prosecuted too.

I suggest that you either just declare the income and ask HMRC for help on what you can offset etc or ask an accountant "how much tax should I pay / what can I offset" rather than "should I declare".

Good Luck

PlutoinCapricorn

I would not like to live with the fear of discovery constantly hanging over me.

If you registered as a sole trader, which is the best option considering the size of your business, you would be charged 20% of your profit in income tax. Unlike PAYE employees, you can use legitimate expenses to reduce the size of your profit.

Pennywise

You have committed an offence by not declaring your income. If you told an accountant and didn't want to fully come clean and pay the taxes you owe, the accountant is bound by law to report you to the authorities - they'd be liable to prosecution themselves if they didn't.

What an accountant can do is to help you come clean, by preparing the accounts and tax returns for the years in which you've not declared income (including making claims for legitimate claimable expenses) and presenting your case to the HM Revenue & Customs. By coming clean and volunteering full information to them, HMRC will charge smaller penalties. But you'll still have the tax, late payment interest and late payment surcharges to pay.

So two main areas for an accountant to help. Firstly by making sure that legitimate expenses claims are put through, and secondly by negotiating the penalties to be as low as possible.

Your alternative is to keep quiet and hope that HMRC never find out what you've been doing, but that's very high risk as if & when they find out, you're on the back foot, will pay higher penalties because you didn't come clean, and may be liable for criminal prosecution - more likely for long term tax evasion. The choice is yours, but don't go to an accountant unless your mind is set on coming clean to HMRC and paying the tax you owe.

PlutoinCapricorn

It seems that you operate informally. Are you aware of the requirements for insurance? You may not be a large company employing several people but you still need to think about it:

" We are Institute of Chimney Sweeps registered member and carry £5million public liability insurance should the unthinkable happen. We draw test all chimneys that we sweep and issue a ICS chimney sweeps certificate for peace of mind, a reminder of when it will need sweeping again and for household insurance purposes."

http://www.acleansweepltd.co.uk/index.php/about-us

zygurat789

abblegabble wrote: »

Hi,

I work full-time as a programmer but also work as a part-time chimney sweep, although I don't declare this extra income and would not know how to or the pro's and con's of declaring a new business etc.

I earn approx 28k at my IT job and maybe another 5k at the chimney cleaning.

My pickle is I'd like to be confident in advertising fully and honestly for my chimney cleaning job but in doing so i know I am liable to be chased up for paying tax etc on my additional earnings. i know I can get a lot more work which i can take on if i can sat advertise my name on the side of a van, things like this.

can someone advise who i need to speak with, any accountant or who, what amounts i might have to pay in tax ? etc, basically the pros and cons of declaring my extra income

i have a big loan to pay each month from years ago paid as a deposit on a house, i was once told if i was in business that this loan could be used as some kind of offset to the tax i'd have to pay. i'm sure theres other ways and means of offsetting tax.

i want to make the move, i think its the right thing and my mind would be at ease too knowing no-one is chasing me or anything.

as i say its all new to me, so any assistance or advice is most welcome.


thank you

Your pickle is that you are a tax evader. This is illegal. You will not be able to advetise honestly until you come clean with HMRC. The only way to ensure that you are not chased by HMRC is to do what you should legally do - declare it and pay the tax.
The pros are that you will be able to sleep at night knowing that you are not defrauding all the rest of us. The cons. It will cost you, all the back tax, maybe fines and penalties and the ongoing tax liability.

If you have overstretched yourself to buy a house, and many have, then there is no way you can claim the interest as a business expense.

You should go and see an accountant one a bit larger than the local one-man-band.
All this is going to cost you, after all you have been a bit naughty but the longer you leave it the worse it will get.

OhReally_2

abblegabble wrote: »

hi,

i work full-time as a programmer but also work as a part-time chimney sweep, although i don't declare this extra income and would not know how to or the pro's and con's of declaring a new business etc.

I earn approx 28k at my it job and maybe another 5k at the chimney cleaning.

My pickle is i'd like to be confident in advertising fully and honestly for my chimney cleaning job but in doing so i know i am liable to be chased up for paying tax etc on my additional earnings. I know i can get a lot more work which i can take on if i can sat advertise my name on the side of a van, things like this.


can someone advise who i need to speak with, any accountant or who, what amounts i might have to pay in tax ? Etc, basically the pros and cons of declaring my extra income

i have a big loan to pay each month from years ago paid as a deposit on a house, i was once told if i was in business that this loan could be used as some kind of offset to the tax i'd have to pay. I'm sure theres other ways and means of offsetting tax.

I want to make the move, i think its the right thing and my mind would be at ease too knowing no-one is chasing me or anything.


As i say its all new to me, so any assistance or advice is most welcome.


Thank you

hmrc .

OhReally_2

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

It seems that you operate informally. Are you aware of the requirements for insurance? You may not be a large company employing several people but you still need to think about it:

" We are Institute of Chimney Sweeps registered member and carry £5million public liability insurance should the unthinkable happen. We draw test all chimneys that we sweep and issue a ICS chimney sweeps certificate for peace of mind, a reminder of when it will need sweeping again and for household insurance purposes."

http://www.acleansweepltd.co.uk/index.php/about-us

In all my years , I have never known a household insurance company to ever ask for such a certificate. (Not saying there isn't one, but none of the insurers I've ever used have asked for one)

What about those who sweep their own chimneys? Isn't that allowed nowadays? :huh:

trailingspouse

Well done for deciding to do the right thing.

Yes, you will have to pay back taxes, but this is just a percentage of the money you've already earned (well, yes it might also be money already spent, but hey, that'll larn ya!!). You will also have to pay penalties.

BUT - this is mightily out-weighed by a) having the burden of guilt lifted from your shoulders and b) being able to advertise etc which will lead to more business, the profit from which will cover the penalties you'll have to pay.

If a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing properly.

abblegabble

Going to book appointment with a good accountant this week to get the lay of the land, thanks for above suggestions.

I'm thinking about getting a van, does this count as an expense and what other allowable expenses can i use for example, fuel costs ?

self-assessment, i can look after all my own admin, so any fee for accountant advice and consulttation can be kept to a minimum I'd assume ?

even though i've been working part-time and had little work or much nincome in previous years, what really is to stop me from just saying I am declaring myself a sole trader from 2014 onwards ?

Percy1983

abblegabble wrote: »

Going to book appointment with a good accountant this week to get the lay of the land, thanks for above suggestions.

I'm thinking about getting a van, does this count as an expense and what other allowable expenses can i use for example, fuel costs ?

self-assessment, i can look after all my own admin, so any fee for accountant advice and consulttation can be kept to a minimum I'd assume ?

even though i've been working part-time and had little work or much nincome in previous years, what really is to stop me from just saying I am declaring myself a sole trader from 2014 onwards ?

If you buy a van purely for business use then you can class that as a business expense and apply all costs to the business (fuel, tax etc).

In theory if you can keep your own records and do the self assessment you don't need an accountant at all, but form you posts to date I would advise you do get advice at a minimum.

I will say there is nothing stopping you going legit from now and pretending the rest never happened, I am not saying this is the right thing to do and there is always the risk of the tax man catching up with you over the prior years and in that case its always better to come clean than be caught.