Son been earning money from home

0Mnibus

I really need some advice, my son has a lung condition and been signed of from work, he moved back home so I can take care of him, but I discovered he has become dependent on his game which helped him through depression, but he has been selling his online services to help other gamers, although he is not on benefit, he does receive pip high rate disability allowance, I explained that I don’t think he can earn money while on this benefit, I am not sure? I read you can still receive this and work, I don’t know who to ask, but while he is living with me I want to make sure he not doing anything wrong, he has autism also, so it’s my job to help him, now he is making quite a bit of money, over the required amount and should be paying tax, but how do I go about this? And can u work from home legally for himself while living with me? I am in receipt of benefit you see, and I don’t want this interfering with my income, if anyone can advise? Do I need to create him a self employed account? And do we need to let his pip know? I am proud he has found something he can do, I just want to make sure it’s all above board and he not breaking any rules. 

marcia_

0Mnibus said:

I really need some advice, my son has a lung condition and been signed of from work, he moved back home so I can take care of him, but I discovered he has become dependent on his game which helped him through depression, but he has been selling his online services to help other gamers, although he is not on benefit, he does receive pip high rate disability allowance, I explained that I don’t think he can earn money while on this benefit, I am not sure? I read you can still receive this and work, I don’t know who to ask, but while he is living with me I want to make sure he not doing anything wrong, he has autism also, so it’s my job to help him, now he is making quite a bit of money, over the required amount and should be paying tax, but how do I go about this? And can u work from home legally for himself while living with me? I am in receipt of benefit you see, and I don’t want this interfering with my income, if anyone can advise? Do I need to create him a self employed account? And do we need to let his pip know? I am proud he has found something he can do, I just want to make sure it’s all above board and he not breaking any rules. 

 Yes he can earn an unlimited amount whilst receiving PIP. It is only means tested benefits such as universal credit where income needs to be reported 

Spoonie_Turtle

In terms of paying tax and registering, if he's received over £1,000 in a tax year he will have to register for self-assessment.  But unless he has any other sources of taxable income (PIP is not), there won't be tax to pay unless he's earned over about £12,750 (or the personal allowance in previous applicable years).

https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-nic/how-tax-collected/self-assessment-and-tax-returns


Which benefits do you claim? 
His income shouldn't affect your benefits but if you claim Housing Benefit (actual HB from the council, not help with rent through Universal Credit) there's a chance it might be relevant.

tacpot12

Another thing to consider is whether your home insurance allows him to work from home. 

0Mnibus

Thank you for the advice, I have just set him up as a sole trader with HMRC the only thing is it wouldn't let me create it if older than 3 months, so I had to put 1st Jan, but now I realise he does need to submit for back to April, so I will have to ring them tomorrow and see what he needs to do, I am not sure on insurance, he just makes his money on his game, people pay him for helping them, I'm not sure why insurance would be needed for that but I will look into it. 

HampshireH

0Mnibus said:

Thank you for the advice, I have just set him up as a sole trader with HMRC the only thing is it wouldn't let me create it if older than 3 months, so I had to put 1st Jan, but now I realise he does need to submit for back to April, so I will have to ring them tomorrow and see what he needs to do, I am not sure on insurance, he just makes his money on his game, people pay him for helping them, I'm not sure why insurance would be needed for that but I will look into it. 

They meant if your home insurance allows you to run a business from home. Not that you would need to insure him 

I can't imagine this will be a problem for that but it's definitely a consideration and worth a conversation with them if you're not able to answer it yourself from your policy docs.

elsien

tacpot12 said:

Another thing to consider is whether your home insurance allows him to work from home. 

Surely that only applies if you have people coming and going or are buying in stock or increasing the risk in some other way. I work from home, computer based, and it does not need to be declared to my insurer. Although I am employed rather than self employed, if that makes any difference.