Buying materials for work?

Jibber123

I've got a couple of part time jobs 1 or 2 days a week and I've recently started to do odd jobs, and gardening bits for people in the village. So I've been making preparations to do my tax return online for the last year.
One of my part time jobs is working as a handy man at a small plant nursery, and over the past year I've been asked to buy some materials to complete the jobs i'm doing. The Owner always pays me either up front or when i bring the stuff in the complete the work. He's not very practical and by the time i explain what i need and then get him to order it, which normally tuns out to be wrong, it's just simpler for me to get it and he gives me the money. It started with just £20 or £50 but it's been creeping up in to the £100's and, and he's now asked me to order £5000 of stuff. How would this work out on my tax return, will i have to pay tax on the £5000 he's paid me? In which case i will be left out of pocket or can i just separate the materials off. I can't seem to find anything on the HMRC or GOV.UK websites that explain it very well. For my gardening work I provide each customer an invoice each month, but this is just for labour so will be taxed. The work at the nursery is PAYE so is also taxed as source if i got over the tax free allowance , but do i still need to declare the money I've received for materials and then provide receipts for the goods I've purchased?  I don't want to have to get an accountant as this will cost me more money, i'm doing this for a favour but i think the value of the materials i'm buying are getting too high now. I did suggest he could get me a company credit card, but he told me the bank wouldn't allow it as i'm not a partner in the bussiness, which I understand. 

calcotti

This is the welfare benefits forum. Your question is about tax so would be better posted on the Cutting Tax forum.

Rodders53

You are buying stuff for the PAYE business and being reimbursed for it by the PAYE business as an 'expense' "necessarily incurred as part of your job". 
You will be giving your employer all the receipts for the goods you buy on his behalf so he can use them in his tax/accounting systems.   So nothing to do with your personal tax.
But for £5k, I'd be wanting the cash up front to pay the suppliers (aka an 'advance' on the 'expenses').

All assuming you aren't making any profit on the purchase of the goods by re-selling them to your employer.