Universal Credit questions for self employed

Bmwm3gt2

Good evening, my wife and I are both self employed chauffeurs and was hoping someone would be able to answer a couple of questions for us as we are getting staff that seem unsure/unable to answer. in the first month we had zero income but did have outgoings which resulted in a negative wage. The first months calculation was based on us earning £0 but the loss carried forward to the next month. That month we both received SEISS payments which meant we had nothing that month from UC as we were above the limit. Am I correct in thinking that this month our earnings will be classed as just what we earn this month, no wages (grant) will be carried over? Also we didn't put any vehicle costs down as it stated we couldn't list vehicle related costs but we were unsure if this was the case for us due to the nature of the work. My wife finally had a call back on this and was told that we can put down the costs associated with the minibus but not the Mercedes and Tesla as these were family cars. Now that doesn't sound correct to me as they are all clearly vehicles required for the business and not just cars for 'staff' to run around in! Is this correct what she was told that we can only put the costs down for the minibus? Also the question that they couldn't answer at all was how can we add the relevant costs that should have been listed in the previous 2 months? Many thanks

Icequeen1

Bmwm3gt2 said:

Good evening, my wife and I are both self employed chauffeurs and was hoping someone would be able to answer a couple of questions for us as we are getting staff that seem unsure/unable to answer. in the first month we had zero income but did have outgoings which resulted in a negative wage. The first months calculation was based on us earning £0 but the loss carried forward to the next month. That month we both received SEISS payments which meant we had nothing that month from UC as we were above the limit. Am I correct in thinking that this month our earnings will be classed as just what we earn this month, no wages (grant) will be carried over? Also we didn't put any vehicle costs down as it stated we couldn't list vehicle related costs but we were unsure if this was the case for us due to the nature of the work. My wife finally had a call back on this and was told that we can put down the costs associated with the minibus but not the Mercedes and Tesla as these were family cars. Now that doesn't sound correct to me as they are all clearly vehicles required for the business and not just cars for 'staff' to run around in! Is this correct what she was told that we can only put the costs down for the minibus? Also the question that they couldn't answer at all was how can we add the relevant costs that should have been listed in the previous 2 months? Many thanks

1. Your loss should have reduced your income from the SEISS grant
2. The grant may be carried over to later months - you need to google surplus earnings rules. It depends how much over the point at which your UC goes to nil you were as to how much surplus will be carried forward (if any)
3. Vehicle costs - you can't deduct the costs of cars but you can vans, that is probably why they are treating them differently. Cars you can only deduct a flat rate. See https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/universal-credit/guidance/entitlement-to-uc/self-employment/calculating-income-from-self-employment/
4. What relevant costs should have been listed in the previous 2 months? I'm not aware you can go back and change them unless you are still in time to submit a mandatory reconsideration. 

Bmwm3gt2

Hi, many thanks for taking the time to reply. 1, yes the loss from the first month was carried forward. 2, our total allowance is £1111.12 but last month we showed a total SE earning between us of £5406.83. By my calculations if you deduct the £512 allowable earnings and then reduce the award at a rate of £0.63 per £1 our surplus earnings would be £3133.15 for the month so above the £2500 so will be rolled over to next month, but will it be £3133.15 or £633.15 (deduct £2500)? 3, OK noted, just seems very strange to me. 4, the insurance, RFL, Private Hire Vehicle license cost etc. 1 other thing we may have done incorrectly, we put the full grant payments we received, is this correct or should we deduct tax and NI? If so do we take the tax free allowance for the year and divide it by 12? Thanks