Unusual employment status

MakeVotesMatter

Q1) If someone (>18) lived with parents and helped out around house/large garden, and received money from them, could that be classed as gifts? Or would HMRC fine them for not registering as a sole trader and completing a self assessment? (say up to 50 hours per month, up to £500 a month, but less than 4k a year total, with no other income).

1a) If HRMC would fine them, how/when would they find out as HMRC can’t see people's bank accounts?

Q2) How would the person from Q1 fill in the Chase current account form's employment status?
employed
self-employed or business owner (asks for business name)
homemaker
student
retired

unemployed (asks for source of income: spouse or family, inheritance, government benefits, pension, real estate or rental income, investments, trust income, lottery, legal settlement.)

Thanks.

gravel_2

Sounds like unemployment to me...

General_Grant

MakeVotesMatter said:

Q1) If someone (>18) lived with parents and helped out around house/large garden, and received money from them, could that be classed as gifts? Or would HMRC fine them for not registering as a sole trader and completing a self assessment? (say up to 50 hours per month, up to £500 a month, but less than 4k a year total, with no other income).

1a) If HRMC would fine them, how/when would they find out as HMRC can’t see people's bank accounts?

Q2) How would the person from Q1 fill in the Chase current account form's employment status?
employed
self-employed or business owner (asks for business name)
homemaker
student
retired

unemployed (asks for source of income: spouse or family, inheritance, government benefits, pension, real estate or rental income, investments, trust income, lottery, legal settlement.)

Thanks.

I would think "homemaker" could be most relevant.  In the UK it's a rather vague term.

If someone were an employee, that amount of income keeps them outside the need to pay NI and income tax.  National minimum rates do not apply when someone lives in the family home.

Do your parents claim benefits (other than the state pension)?

eskbanker

MakeVotesMatter said:

If HRMC would fine them, how/when would they find out as HMRC can’t see people's bank accounts?

What gave you that idea?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/amending-hmrcs-civil-information-powers/amending-hmrcs-civil-information-powers

MakeVotesMatter

Thanks so much for replies.

gravel_2 said:

Sounds like unemployment to me...

I thought that or self-employed, but wouldn't know how to proceed with the following question in each. Spouse or family support seemed most accurate in that list. I wonder if chase rejects unemployed/low income for a current account.

General_Grant said:

I would think "homemaker" could be most relevant.  In the UK it's a rather vague term.

If someone were an employee, that amount of income keeps them outside the need to pay NI and income tax.  National minimum rates do not apply when someone lives in the family home.

Do your parents claim benefits (other than the state pension)?

Interesting, I didn't consider that option. They don't claim any.

eskbanker said:

What gave you that idea?

Thanks for the link, looks like I was wrong.

paul_c123

Declare as self-employed to HMRC (after all, you'll pay no income tax, you're well under the £12,000 threshold) and declare as self-employed on bank account/finance applications. 

Are you claiming Universal Credit (you can do so while being self-employed for low earnings)? If so, then you would need to be assessed to determine if you are "gainfully" self employed or not (if not, then you'd need to search for jobs etc to receive UC).