Help with Tax Return

maggiesoup

Hi hoping you may be able to help.  I've been PAYE all my working life.  I retired last year (age 68) however my previous employer asked if I'd like to do some ad hoc work as self employed and just send them an invoice.  This worked out fine but now of course I'm having to do a Tax Return and I'm totally flummoxed.  Looking at the Tax Return form online, it states that if I made over £1000 I have to declare myself as Self Employed, give a Business Name (I just invoiced them as my name) then it starts asking what sort of accountancy I used.....  oh dear, I'm in a total guddle.  Any simple help out there?  Thankyou. 

MeteredOut

How much did you earn in the ad-hoc work, and are you likely to do more?

If enough, and you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself, you might want to find a local accountancy firm who will do it for you for a few hundred £.

On 'what sort of accountancy' - is that referring to cash or accrual basis? If so, it's not as complicated as it sounds. Have a read of this: https://www.xero.com/uk/guides/cash-vs-accrual-accounting.

I suspect Cash basis is probably simpler if you're not going to turn this into a "true" self-employed business.

Have you registered as self-employed/sole trader? If no, you should do that too: https://www.gov.uk/set-up-sole-trader

Other things to be wary off: as a sole trader, you are personally liable if your client sues you due to bad service, so your personal assets could be part of their claim. If you're planning on expanding the business, look into setting up a limited company.

maggiesoup

I earned £5800 but I've given up working for good so pointless setting myself up as self employed now I guess.
I thought it would be so easy just paying basic tax on the sum mentioned without all this palaver!

mebu60

Isn't there a box on the SA form for ad hoc earnings? Or an anything else catch-all? I'm sure there's something like that. Assuming there is, I would look at putting the £5.8k in there and describe it as a 'one-off series of casual labour' or similar. Would be prudent to include 'one-off' or similar reference to be clear it's not on-going.

maggiesoup

I'll certainly check it out, this would make far more sense.  Had a quick look but nothing under ad hoc I'm afraid

mebu60

@maggiesoup
I've had to go back to 18/19 to find a copy of a SA form. Assuming they're still the same / similar, under Income page TR3 below Interest and Pensions sections there is Other UK Income Not Included On Supplementary Pages.
Box 17 is Other Taxable Income (gross). 18 is Expenses and 19 Tax Taken Off. 21 is the description i.e. source of 17.