Forum
Registering as self employed
Hi,
Ive been freelancing for about 7 months. I have a full time job, but a friend asked my to do a website for them. Because it was just one job, I thought all I would have to do is fill in a self assessment form at the end of the tax year. Since that first job, a few other jobs have come along and now Im regularly doing freelance work in the evenings and weekends. Ive been looking into this more now because of this, and it looks like I should have registered as being self employed right at the beginning. I know there is a £100 fine if you dont register within 3 months of going self employed, but Im completly new at this and it was a genuine mistake (although Im sure the tax man will say ignorance is not an excuse).
Im going to have to register as self employed, but has anyone else slipped up on this or have any advice? I dont want to be fined £100 for being naieve.
Ive also been looking at the articles on this site about insurance which has been a real eye-opener!
Thanks.
Ive been freelancing for about 7 months. I have a full time job, but a friend asked my to do a website for them. Because it was just one job, I thought all I would have to do is fill in a self assessment form at the end of the tax year. Since that first job, a few other jobs have come along and now Im regularly doing freelance work in the evenings and weekends. Ive been looking into this more now because of this, and it looks like I should have registered as being self employed right at the beginning. I know there is a £100 fine if you dont register within 3 months of going self employed, but Im completly new at this and it was a genuine mistake (although Im sure the tax man will say ignorance is not an excuse).
Im going to have to register as self employed, but has anyone else slipped up on this or have any advice? I dont want to be fined £100 for being naieve.
Ive also been looking at the articles on this site about insurance which has been a real eye-opener!
Thanks.
- Contact in PM
festsoft
Messages count : 1Likes count : 0Registration : 18 July 2009Like you, at first I did not know whether my idea of freelance work would come to anything. I recently talked to HMRC and discussed with them what to put down as a start date and the date was over 3 months ago. But I am on PAYE with pension income, and you are in f/t employmenmt. I wonder if the rule is intended for people who start to make a living self employed so they do not escape from the tax system? Are people who make a bit of casual extra money really "self employed" in the usual sense of the term? - Contact in PM
dllive
Messages count : 6Likes count : 0Registration : 27 August 2009hi festsoft, yes, exactly what I was thinking. Am I self employed if I just do one job? If work starts picking up, am I self employed? Probably yes, and Ive now registered as self employed (aparently the fine is being posted to me and I need to appeal it) - but does that mean I was self employed in the first place? Im going to see how the appeal goes. Fingers crossed. I wander how lenient HMRC actually is? I assume theyre there to screw the little man, but maybe they do have a heart and know that people are likely to get it wrong and make mistakes in their fisrt few weeks of going self employed. We'll see what happens. Do you know if youre going to be fined?