Self Employed while on UC

tunnie123

Hi there,

Im not sure if i have over complicated this so i will try and explain.

Wife and i both worked full time. We have now had a second baby and wife has given up work due to the cost of child care etc it just did not make financial sense for her to continue working. So for the last 2 months we have received universal credit. Now i know we are entitled to it but we hate claiming it, never claimed any benefits before as we have both always worked.

Now i have come across a bit of freelance work that i can do on top of my normal job. i would be able to do enough to earn about an extra 1k a month, Now i understand with UC that for every extra £1 i earn our UC goes down by 63p which is fine.

My question is would i report my earning to UC with the total figure i have earned or the figure i have worked out after 20% tax, so basically say i earned £1000 or say i earned £800. i also understand that there is a £1000 trading allowance before i have to pay any tax or register as self employed. Now if i then earn say £900 this December would i have to report this to UC as technically i have not been declared self employed yet [ looking to do this on the first of January]

Sorry if i have over complicated it all it is very new to me.

thanks

laticsforlife

I think your question is do you declare the gross or the net for UC purposes.

I would suspect it's gross, but you'd be better asking them.

Dazed_and_confused

never claimed any benefits before

Before you do anything else you need to sort out Child Benefit, you are losing £1,700/year (two kids) by not claiming this.

Even if nothing is really due because of the High Income Child Benefit Charge your wife may get NI credits towards her State Pension.