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From what I understand, you let the inland revenue know the situation and there's no problem being partly self-employed, partly employed. You'll then need to complete your own tax return at the end of the financial year in which you detail both earnings. The inland Revenue will give you the details about how to do this....... you register on their site and then you can just fill the details in on their online submission forms.... its very easy and straightfoward in your position so you should not need an accountant. As your tax free allowance will effectively be used up on your fulltime job, you will end up paying 20% tax on all your additional selfemployed earnings. Regarding insurance....... you won't be able to get 1 days cover however I wouldn't worry too much about that....... my yearly premium with Directline is only about £60 for 3rd party indemnity. .
"Depends" is the answer to all your questions!
First even if it is only one day a week you will need to register with HMRC as self employed. You will also be liable to pay Class 2 NI contributions on your one day a week self employed earnings.
A book keeper may not be necessary, if you're ok with record keeping, basic maths, and sorting out expenses.
Keeping accurate records of your earnings is an absolute must as the Revenue may wish to inspect them. If you can't prove what you have earned then the Revenue will compare you to other people in similar situations and tax you at what they believe you may have earned rather than what you actually have. And if you can't prove different, tough luck!
The general rule of thumb for claiming expenses is, "If I wasn't self employed, would I have bought this (for example) mower". If your answer is "No I wouldn't have bought it" then it is an expense you can claim for. Any claimable expense can be set against your self employed tax liability.
Regarding the wages side, it depends how much you earn at present. This years (April 2013/2014) personal allowance is £9440. so anything you earn up to this amount is free of tax, above that amount you are taxed at 20% (basic rate taxpayer). So if your full time wage is £9440 or above, earnings on your one day a week job will be subject to tax at 20%.
For insurance, and I assume you mean Public Liability, speak to Simply Business advertised on this site. They are very helpful, though no doubt other people may recommend different brokers.
Thanks for your help chaps, seems it might pay off to do the contract.
Im very good at tracking my money, and was infact going to pay the earning from it into a new account which I will buy bits here and there on too.
So for example, im thinking of buying a BG86, which is about £210 for F R Jones. So this will -£210 from my earnings to start, how much of the £210 will I get back from claiming it at the end of the year?
Depends!
You could claim the full amount on your tax return, but for example, if the amount you have spent on this blower would be more than the tax you actually owe, then you have the option to just claim say 20% of the cost for year one, followed by 20% for each following tax year until you reach the full amount.
You may want to see if your local HMRC run any classes for people who are starting their own business. They used to run a scheme called 'Business Support', where they will teach you the basics to enable you to start and run your business. It is free to attend. There is a lot of information on their website as well.
Do remember to keep every receipt for all your expenses. Perhaps the easiest filing system for when you start is to go and buy (as your starting in March) 15 A4 envelopes. Mark them March 2014 / April 1st till 4th 2014 / April 2014 / May 2014 etc etc and put your receipts for each month in the relevant envelope. The first expense receipt will be...... yup the receipt for the envelopes!
Basically, the BG86 will mean that your profit for the year will be reduced by £210 so in your case, you won't be paying your 20% tax on that which will save you £42..... oh well.... every bit helps I guess.
Steven Lillycrop said:
Are you planning to build it up into full self-employment over time? In which case, you'll probably be investing most of the earnings in the best equipment over the first year.
When I returned to gardening after a break, I started part-time, and took about two years alongside my other job to build it to a full-time business. The first year I think I got a small tax refund, as I'd payed out more than I earned! The second year it was time to take the plunge and borrow to buy a decent van and trailer, so again that had to be accounted correctly.
Personally, I'd go to a small, local accountant. For what I pay each year mine more than pays for himself in things I wouldn't claim back, or at least wouldn't be comfortable claiming back.