I am currently in between jobs and am thinking of trying to see if i can get any business going with a friend as a basic one man and van/ odd job man type outfit. We do not know whether we will be successul in getting something like this going and are still just starting to try to drum up business locally at the moment.
As such all we have done is some basic canvassing in terms of dropping flyers through doors and have only just started registering through places such as yell.com. This is all only to see if we can drum up some interest and by no means am i clear whether we can get on-going work or any work at all and call ourselves a business.
My question is simply where so we stand legally in terms of whether we need to delcare our selves as self employed. Like i said i am very unsure whether we can get any business going even in the short-term yet alone the longterm so do we really need to register as self employed when we have no income to declare yet? Could you please advise me on this matter and whether i will be breaking the law for holding off on contacting hmrc?
-- Edited by ssjw1000 on Tuesday 25th of January 2011 08:58:26 PM
I think the time limit for SA registration is 3 months, it used to be 6. You mention that you are in between jobs, if you are signing on, you would need to watch the DSS. Even if you are doing unpaid work, you are supposed to claim that you are working, if you don't and are caught it could make things very complicated.
In case you are claiming benefits, there are schemes for people who are unemployed and starting in business - you can claim your benefits, and work self employed for 6 months providing you put all your profits into a business bank account. It is usually arranged through your local business startup centre. There is a bit of paperwork involved, one of the advisors in the startup centre has to co-sign your cheques to ensure that you are paying legitimate bills and you aren't benefitting from any profits during the period you sign etc. After 6 months, you decide whether it is worth carrying on with the business or not.
Thanks very much for the response. No i am not signing on at the moment, i have not been out of work very long and have not reached the point where i feel i need to yet.
That all helps alot though, thanks. I did have one other question. I am activley also looking for a suitable job at the moment, and if that happens it will probably put my self-emplyment plans on hold. So if our advertisements result in no actual business coming in over the next few weeks and i manage to get a full time job on an employed basis before actually doing any odd-job work at all - do i still need to register as self employed? (technically as i wpuld have done no actual self employed business and therefore have no income to declare i was thinking this would not be necessary but would appreciate someones more informed opinion on this.
If you get a job in the meantime you can always close the business and declare this on the tax return.
Another way to think about it is that if you incur any cost in running the business but don't actually make a sale, you can still claim the loss and utilise it against your other employment income.
So you may as well do a tax return!
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