Self employed maternity pay

Mysteryshopper62892

I have been doing mystery shopping for the past years 'earning' a couple thousand pounds a year. I have just had a baby and have been told I'll get £27/week and was sent an invoice to pay about £35-£40 to the HMRC.
Several questions...
1. Why did I have to pay tax despite earning under the taxable threshold?
2. I'm pretty sure in the testable period for the maternity pay I have earned more than £27/week - is there a way to declare this?
3. Can I still do mystery shopping jobs whilst receiving mat pay?

Many thanks for any help!

sheramber

What does it say the invoice is for?

Did you pay class 2 NIC while self employe? Your eligibility to maternity allowance depends on your class NIC payments.

https://www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance/eligibility

If you haven’t paid enough Class 2 National Insurance

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will check if you’ve paid enough Class 2 National Insurance to qualify for Maternity Allowance when you make your claim.

If you haven’t (eg because you’re self-employed and haven’t filed your Self Assessment tax return yet), DWP will write to you to let you know.

HMRC will then contact you to tell you how to make an early payment.

sj1990

well this is all news to me :')

Savvy_Sue

Adding to what sheramber has already said ...

Mysteryshopper62892 wrote: »

I have been doing mystery shopping for the past years 'earning' a couple thousand pounds a year. I have just had a baby and have been told I'll get £27/week and was sent an invoice to pay about £35-£40 to the HMRC.

Who told you this? Who sent the invoice - and as above, what was it for?

Mysteryshopper62892 wrote: »

1. Why did I have to pay tax despite earning under the taxable threshold?

Is the invoice for tax, or for National Insurance? HMRC don't usually send invoices for anything ...

Mysteryshopper62892 wrote: »

2. I'm pretty sure in the testable period for the maternity pay I have earned more than £27/week - is there a way to declare this?

I'm not sure it will make a difference. If you have been self-employed and paying the appropriate national insurance contributions for the right years, you can claim statutory maternity allowance, which is a flat rate of not very much, but adds up to more than you have to pay in NICs in order to get it. See this link, which at least explains to me where you're getting the £27 per week from. But that's the figure for the final 14 weeks of SMA - you're missing out on the first 39 weeks, if you're eligible! And you won't get one without the other.

So as above, it would help to know where your information is coming from.

Mysteryshopper62892 wrote: »

3. Can I still do mystery shopping jobs whilst receiving mat pay?

Almost certainly not. If you return to work, your SMA stops, just as SMP does if you return to work.

Mysteryshopper62892

I've checked and the invoice was for National Insurance.

In regards to working/picking up the odd job, what about the 10 keep-in-touch days that regularly employed women can use? Would I not be able to claim similar?

Becles

Maternity allowance is paid at one of two rates for the self employed. It's over £100 a week (not sure of exact amount) for women who have paid Class 2 NI contributions and £27 a week for those who are exempt from paying due to low earnings.

If you're only earning a couple of thousand from mystery shopping, I'm guessing you haven't paid any NI which is where they got the £27 from.

It doesn't matter how much you actually earn as the 90% of earnings rule applies to SMP not maternity allowance.

You can't work while claiming maternity allowance but you can use your 10 KIT days. However use them wisely and do as much work as you can on the KIT day. If you just log onto a couple of mystery shopping sites and check your emails for 15 minutes, that counts as using one whole KIT day! You must keep records of when you used your KIT days in case they check up on you.

Mysteryshopper62892

I've paid the invoice from National Insurance now though so surely that means I would be in the non-exempt category and should be assessed for higher payments?

Mysteryshopper62892

And why would just logging on to see if there are any jobs count as a KIT day since I wouldn't actually be getting paid anything for that?

sheramber

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/maternity-benefits-technical-guidance/maternity-benefits-technical-guidance

Any work you do as a KIT day, even for as little as half an hour, for example, will count as a whole day for KIT days. You can work for single days; in blocks of two or more days; or they can be worked consecutively. It is the number of days you actually work over the 10 days allowed which determines whether you will lose your MA just for the days worked or whether MA stops altogether. The amount you get paid for the days you work in your MAP will not affect your MA.

If you work for more than 10 days you must not collect any more money. A decision maker trained in applying Social Security law will decide whether any further payments can be made.

You must tell Jobcentre Plus if you do any work for an employer or work as a self-employed person (including work you do on KIT days) in your Maternity Allowance Period.