Guinea Fowl Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 I am a bit lost here and just cant seem to find the info on the net that I am looking for. Can I be in full time employment and be self-employed at the same time? I work 40 hours a week at my place of work but I can get some business in my spare time and on weekends. So what I want to do is, is keep my normal job for now and just do my own thing in my spare time for now till business pick`s up a bit before I go self-employed full time. My company said they can treat me as self employed and then it`s just up to me to pay taxes and all that, but by doing that I`ll loose a lot of other benefits which I don`t want to do right now. So am I barking up the wrong tree here or what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Yes you can, You need to register as self employed with HMRC and just carry on as you are. You may need to pay a class 2 national insurance in addition to what you pay now but a good accountant can sort that out for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SXPhil Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Speak to the small business unit at HMRC they are really helpful and they do not charge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinea Fowl Posted October 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Okay, thank you guys. I`ll have a look into that and go and speak with them guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcw65 Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 (edited) You can do both but it will cause problems for your company,if you dont pay your tax the company is liable. I used to work like this and the company i worked for had a tax investigation though nothing was wrong we then had to go cards in or be self employed through a agency so that there were no come backs. I ended up working cards in and having my tax paid and then getting refunds through my self employed work after 2 years as the work i did cards in still had to be booked. Also if you pay your selfemployed stamp which is a class 2 and anything goes wrong you cannot get jobseekers allowance as you have to have paid class 1 contributions. Edited October 9, 2009 by mcw65 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunny Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 Short answer is Yes you can be both. Lots of people are employees and also have a side-line such as selling on internet auction sites. I knew a couple of firefighters who made more money part time on their days off than as firefighters. They remained firefighters for the pension and other benefits. I don't know how this works in practice as it is a long time ago since I did it and the regulations are bound to have changed so it would be best to speak to your local Inland Revenue office (or is it Customs & Revenue these days?) about taxation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bb Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 I have been employed, a director of my own company and self employed. I'd NEVER go self employed again, the problems follow you around for years. Always remember that your accountant is your best friend, take his advice and see about starting a limited company, it doesn't cost a lot and lets "the company" earn money, not you, possibly better whilst in full time employment. You can withdraw money from "the company" as a dividend in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iaindp Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 You don't have to be one OR the other - you can be both. However, both employent and self employment are liable to income tax in the same way so tax returns can be messy and confusing if you're not used to making annual returns etc. I would separate the two entirely and become, or buy, a limited company which you can do on the net for a little as £50.00. There are some extra statutory obligations to comply with as a "company" but a local accountant will be able to help and advise you with these, as well as corporation tax returns at year end. You should be able to draw down an income as dividends which could have favourable tax implications bu there are also, in theory, many other benefits to being a Ltd company over an employee and again an accountant can help you with these. It sounds as though your "part time" business is quite small scale at the moment so a reasonable accountant would not cost much more than a couple of hundred quid a year, which would be well worth the expense given the tax and statutory obligations. Regards Iain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinea Fowl Posted October 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 The whole idea is to have a LTD company at the end, I was just unsure if I could run a company while I am still in full time employment. The business I can get now in my spare time is good enough for me to start up but I still want to be employed for now, for financial reasons. But the moment things pick up, which right now looks quite promising I will leave my current employer and just carry on as a LTD company, I was just not sure if it was possible to do it like that as the accountant at work was not sure how to do that. If all of you fine chaps say I must speak to an accountant and the accountant at my work did not know, then I might mention to her to ask for her uni money back as she don`t have a clue then Thanks for all the advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iaindp Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 The whole idea is to have a LTD company at the end, I was just unsure if I could run a company while I am still in full time employment. The business I can get now in my spare time is good enough for me to start up but I still want to be employed for now, for financial reasons. But the moment things pick up, which right now looks quite promising I will leave my current employer and just carry on as a LTD company, I was just not sure if it was possible to do it like that as the accountant at work was not sure how to do that. If all of you fine chaps say I must speak to an accountant and the accountant at my work did not know, then I might mention to her to ask for her uni money back as she don`t have a clue then Thanks for all the advice GF, you need to speak to an accountant who works in practice. Is the accountant at work qualified? If so, she should know that stuff from her exams but wouldn't necessarily do it in her work. I'm an accountant working in industry and don't really get involved in personal / company accounts either but still recall stuff from when I was doing my exams. You really need to speak to someone working for a firm of accountants or an accountant who works for himself doing personal accounts, taxation etc. They'll be able to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Posted October 9, 2009 Report Share Posted October 9, 2009 No problem with that, do both. May not need an accountant whilst your are building up trade if your busniess dealings are fairly straight forward. Tax returns are not that complicated and can be done on-line these days. You will need the info off your P60 to enter onto the return along with income outgoings from the business etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colchesterhomebrew Posted October 11, 2009 Report Share Posted October 11, 2009 There are many advantages of being "self employed", but probably the best way is to be "employed" by a limited company that you own. If you do generate enough revenue to be completely independent of your current employer you can employ yourself and pay yourself a minimal salary upto the lower earning limit at which national insurance contributions start to be paid. In this way, you will maximise your personal tax allowance and, though you will also have to pay employers NI contributions, you will still pay minimal "standard" NI contributions and thus be eligible for full pension rights AND sickness/unemplyment benefits if the company later folds. Any excess profits can then be distributed as dividends (which attracts more favourable tax and NI treatment), though, if you have a good accountant, you won't declare a profit that attracts too much corporation tax. You would be amazed at how much it costs to run a bsuiness and just how much personal expenditure can be reasonably classified as "business" expenditure. If you are contracted out of SERPS (not widely advertised these days but may be applicable if you were working in the late 80s/early 90s) then your NI contributions (both yours and the employer contributions) are partially rebated into your contracted out personal pension so you end up getting the benefit of the NI contributions both ways. You can even set up a personal pension and have the company pay into it on your behalf. Whilst you can't claim tax relief directly on the contributions made (unless you also make contributions from your post tax +NI "salary", but that can be difficult as there are specifc limits on how much of your earnings you can pay into a pension), the company can claim them as a standard business expense and thus once again reduce the corporation tax burden. See an accountant as advised and good luck... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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