Self-Employed for 1 month - can the tax be paid early?

DollyDay

Hello all,

If someone who has always been PAYE was made redundant in April, started a new PAYE job in June, but earnt money over the threshold on a self-employed basis during May is there any way they can declare this and pay the tax/NI straightaway (basically so they know how much of it they can spend!) rather than wait nearly a year until the end of the tax year?
Assuming there will be no further self-employed income in the current tax year of course.
I have searched online but cannot find anything helpful.

Thank you

Dazed_and_C0nfused

How much was your business turnover in the period you were self employed?

And what was your profit?

DollyDay

It was £4k for a one off job with no costs associated with it.

Bookworm105

DollyDay said:

It was £4k for a one off job with no costs associated with it.

so you are entitled to claim the £1,000 trading allowance therefore your taxable profit is £3,000

as you were PAYE either side of that work in the tax year it is very probable you have paid enough NI to secure a pension credit so you do not need to voluntarily pay self employed NI. and with profit of "only" 3K there will be no compulsory NI to pay 

So that just leaves income tax. You know for yourself what tax bracket you fall in, but the ability to command such a SE fee suggests you are probably at least higher rate (if not additional?), so is it really that hard to set aside £1,200 for the income tax due on the 3k?

I assume you are not already required to submit a tax return?
If not, then whilst physically possible to pay HMRC early, by using a manual cheque (sent through the snail mail quoting your NI number), it would be less wise to so so.
Pay your Self Assessment tax bill: By cheque through the post - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
HMRC are not great with matching up unexpected payments and could even end up refunding it as "overpaid"

Bottom line is register for SA asap.
Once you have a UTR then make a payment on account if you really cannot trust yourself not to spend the money before 5 April 2025. You can then submit the 24/25 SA as soon as you get your 24/25 P60 so as to be able to populate the employment income section accurately. 

Also bear in mind as it appears to have been a one off bout of self employment you will also need to de-register as self employed or else you will be penalised if you fail to compete the SE section of the tax return in future years. (You tick the box to say your self employment ended in 24/25 when completing the SE section)

SensibleSarah

My advice would be to just set aside 20-25% (to give yourself a small buffer) and move it to a seperate account so you can't spend it accidentally - preferably one that pays decent interest. 

DollyDay

Thank you all for the advice, I appreciate it.