Freelance - Legality Questions.

As a spare time freelancer, you are best as a sole trader than setting up a company so no need to register name. You do however need to tell Inland Revenue and fill in a self-employed sheet alongside your main tax form each year. From the sounds of it you wont be earning loads so need to get a class 2 national insurance exemption certificate as you dont need to pay these if earning under a certain amount. As well as the legality of it, it is good to register with IR as can claim expenses for your freelancing such as materials, website/portfolio hosting (like freelance alliance), percentage of household bills if home office, equipment for that office... even if it adds up to more than you earn from it as new business start up often can cause initial loss.

Hiya Steve, Do hope those already completed freelance jobs were within the last three months :eek2
Registering as self-employed: the basics :: Freelance UK

And what's in name? Well some folks just simply trade under their own name, as nct mentions. Check that no-one else is using the name – a quick Google search will help. There's no register of business names used by self-employed people, but check the Companies House register of limited companies to see those taken, or just for inspiration! Good luck

Hi there,

Thanks for the answers.

Yeah the recent freelance jobs were actaully completed less than a week ago. Although I say 'freelance jobs' they were actually unpaid jobs so to speak, one was for a family friend and the other was a 'foot in the door job' I know many people don't like foot in the door jobs but with me not fully knowing how the money side of things worked I thought it would best doing it that way this time.

Am I not correct in thinking I can only register AFTER my first paid freelance job, as I will need a start-of-trade date or do the unpaid jobs also class as start-of-trade?

Also one last question, would I be still classified as 'self-employed' as I also have a full time 9-5 actual job, outside of the freelancing that I'm hoping to start.

Thanks again,
Steve.

If the jobs were unpaid then there's no new/extra income to declare, so no necessity to tell HMRC I don't think.

In effect, it sounds as if you were doing research for your business/testing the market before diving in the deep-end with a paying client, which sounds like a good thing to me.

Yes, tell HMRC after your first paid job as a freelance, hence the article referring to HMRC (speaking in the past tense) saying its officials want the "date your self-employment commenced"

Yes, you will still need to register as self-employed with HMRC if you have a permanent job as an employee. Whether or not you will be freelancing for your current employer, or other companies, you must formally register as self-employed and register for class 2 NICs.

However, if your projected earnings as a self-employed person are below £5,075 for Apirl 2009-10, you may be let off class 2 NICs if you apply for a SEE (see HMRC's site or the linked article). While this means you will still be 'self-employed,' your total tax bill will be lower if HMRC agrees with you that your income from self-employment will not be greater than £5,075 for the year. I don't think earnings from permanent employment have an impact on a self-employed person's eligibility for SEE, but check with HMRC - quickest way is prob to ring their hotline for newly self-employed people.