Becoming self employed

brendon22uk

Hey,

I've tried searching the forums but I don't seem to find the answer to my problem, here goes...

Both me and my partner have been working at home and earning enough to support ourselves each month and have done so for the past 5 months. We are waiting until October this year to declare ourselves self employed from tax year 2016-2017.

In the meantime, i was wondering if its worth claiming for WTC (until we declare ourselves self employed with the HMRC) or is this a bad idea where the HMRC will ask for this WTC to be returned once we declared self employment? - i dont want to fall in to a trap! - or to claim for WTC you need to declare yourself self employed with the HMRC?

We have less than 6k savings and what we earn is just enough to survive on.

I feel that if we claim WTC, I have a feeling come October HMRC will ask for this WTC to be repaid.

We are looking for both me and my partner to claim WTC and both claim self employment in October.

If your wondering why October, is so that we have enough savings to pay our income tax come self assessment October-January 2018.

Since we are not actively seeking for work, JSA would be out of the question.

Your feedback is most welcome.

Many thanks.

Bogalot

[STRIKE]If you are working and earning now, irrespective of whether you are declaring those earnings to HMRC, you are not eligible for JSA.[/STRIKE]

Nice edit there OP - should always remember to quote!

How much are you earning?

brendon22uk

Thanks!

I realised what I put but meant WTC lol.

Together we're earning an average £2500-£3000 per month

brendon22uk

Although the majority of the work is by my partner and I mainly do the book keeping ( less then 16hrs per week) - perhaps its possible for myself to claim JSA, but this may contradict come October when we both go self employed?

We both need to go self employed as we are looking for a mortgage next summer.

Bogalot

brendon22uk wrote: »

Thanks!

I realised what I put but meant WTC lol.

Together we're earning an average £2500-£3000 per month

You're earning far too much to be eligible for WTC.

brendon22uk wrote: »

Although the majority of the work is by my partner and I mainly do the book keeping ( less then 16hrs per week) - perhaps its possible for myself to claim JSA, but this may contradict come October when we both go self employed?

We both need to go self employed as we are looking for a mortgage next summer.

Quoting now because this has a distinct whiff of playing the system. You can't keep adjusting your story to suit.

annandale

Why would you give up earning three grand a month to claim jsa? Makes no sense

soolin

You should already be registered with HMRC as paying NI and It's not clear from your OP whether you have already formally notified HMRC?

annandale

Depending on when someone starts a business they can have over a year to inform HMRC

[Deleted User]

As well as notifying HMRC have you (if you have a mortgage)told the lender you are using your home for business? Have you told the local authority? you may have to pay business rates.

Darksparkle

There is no benefit in waiting until October to register as self employed with HMRC.

Your reason makes no sense, even if you register now you are not required to complete your tax return until January 2018. The tax for 2016/17 wouldn't be due until then.

You wouldn't be entitled to WTC based on your household income. If you were entitled you wouldn't be able to claim if not registered with HMRC as self employed.