Staring a business?

w00519773

I am an employee.  I have worked for my employer for over fifteen years.
A friend of mine (for over 35 years - I am not much older than that ) asked me to do some work for him (website development), which would take 1 day - I already did the work on Saturday i.e. on my day off. My employer asks that if an employee is  "starting a business" then s process is followed i.e. you have to apply for it, which can take a long time.  Would you apply? I am helping out a friend rather than starting a business i.e. this is a one off.  I would be grateful to hear what others have done in this situation.

Dox

If it's a one off and your profit was under £1,000 for the day's work, you don't even need to tell HMRC let alone your current employer.

w00519773

Dox said:

If it's a one off and your profit was under £1,000 for the day's work, you don't even need to tell HMRC let alone your current employer.

Thanks I was reading about that the other day.  There will be monthly hosting costs, which will be small e.g. £5pcm.  Is this still classed as a one off and would I be entitled to the £1K every year? Would I have to fill in a tax return to at least notify HMRC what I am doing?

TBagpuss

It doesn't sound as though you are starting a business, but that you did a paid favour for a friend. 

That said, if you are going to be doing any ongoing work and if you will be getting paid for that, it may make sense to speak to your manager / HR to confirm that this is not something which falls under their policy - it would be a shame to risk your job if they found out and took a different view from you .