On ESA and want to sell an ebook on amazon etc.

slackhead

Hi

I have been receiving Incap. Benefit, which I gather is now known as ESA.

I have been looking at putting an ebook together of landscape photographs to sell on amazon, but I'm unsure whether I should register as self-employed to do this. And if I did how it would affect my ESA.

I have no experience of self-employment at all so I will be an absolute beginner at this.

I don't expect to become an overnight millionaire or anything like that - art/photography books on amazon seem to be limited to things like 'how to take better photos' rather than an electronic equivalent of a coffee-table book, which is what mine will be. If I get 2 or 3 sales a week it will be something at least.

So, should I be prudent and wait to see if I actually get any sales at all first?

If I register as self-employed and don't get any sales at all what would happen? What happens to my benefits?

There is little real work involved in this apart from time spent on the computer resizing images etc. Also I have little outlays/expenses since it's just a matter of using free software to create the ebook and upload it to amazon, although I have just ordered a cheap ebook reader because I need a good idea of how it will look on actual hardware.

On the amazon forum I was advised to get an EIN number from the US tax office as a foreign, sole proprietor so that amazon wouldn't withhold tax, or they would automatically take 30%, which I did two weeks ago. Would this affect anything? Would they get in touch with the UK tax office about this?

Any advice great appreciated.

DomRavioli

There's a few threads on the benefits and tax credits board - if you do a search they will come up.

slackhead

Thanks. I did look once but didn't find anything specifically to do with my area. Most posts seem to be asking about tax credits.

It seems quite a complex area.

From this link: disabilityrightsuk.org/work-people-living-disability-or-health-conditions it looks like it may come under "work which is so minimal that it can be regarded as trivial or negligible"

Once the ebook is uploaded there will no work involved anyway.

patman99

On ESA you can work 15 hours and 59 minutes a week and earn £95 per week before your benefits are affected.

tomtontom

patman99 wrote: »

On ESA you can work 15 hours and 59 minutes a week and earn £95 per week before your benefits are affected.

This does need to be declared - OP can get a PW1 form from the Jobcentre.

slackhead

Thanks.

What about going self-employed? Is it necessary when selling things on amazon? Especially since after the book is done I'll not be doing any more work on it.

tomtontom

slackhead wrote: »

Thanks.

What about going self-employed? Is it necessary when selling things on amazon? Especially since after the book is done I'll not be doing any more work on it.

Strictly speaking you should register, and keep basic income and expenditure accounts.

mattcanary

You could speak to the Jobcentre about their New Enterprise Allowance scheme.






They pay you money each week in place of JSA (or I suppose ESA in your case). You can top this up by claiming Working Tax Credits.




For me, I would get more receiving NEw Enterprise Allowance payments (around £55pw initially) and WTC (about £50pw), than if I just claimed JSA (£74 odd quid a week).


Obviously, your circumstances are probably different to mine, but maybe something for you to consider?

slackhead

Thanks I'll look up New Enterprise Allowance

slackhead

Well it looks like you need to be in a work related activity group if on ESA, which I'm not at the moment.

There are a few other links to help on becoming self-employed which I'll look into.

Torry_Quine

Just to say that Incap Benefit isn't know as ESA. ESA is a new benefit which all IB claimants are being switched to. For most this means completing an ESA 50 form and may mean a face-to-face interview. There is also a restriction of money for a year unless in the support group.