Does this count as self-employment? Tax credits question

Charfinrumam

Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2018
Messages
7
Points
23
Age
43
Hi everyone, I'm really hoping someone can help me with this!

I'm currently a (single) SAHM to my 3 children (17, 11 and 4)l; my little one started school in September and I've been looking for a job since then. I need something that will fit around my two younger children, particularly my 11 year old as I (and his school) believe that he may be on the autistic spectrum and he wouldn't settle with a childminder etc., nor would I be comfortable leaving him for any long period of time (my 17 year old is not about much due to college / work / boyfriend!)

I have dabbled in online earning over the years; I've done matched betting, casino sites, a few survey sites, and have just started looking into mystery shopping etc. (have gained many tips from reading through this website).

I am keen on starting a blog about money saving / money making, and also plan to apply for a job with Leapforce as soon as the kids go back to school (I have a BSc Hons so I'm hoping this will help with that process!). I know that working for a company such as Leapforce would be classed as self-employment; my question is, at what point does blogging become self-employment in the eyes of HMRC? Would it be as soon as I start, or the first time I receive a payment, e.g. through affiliate marketing / signups? (The aim of the blog is primarily to make me a passive income so I can continue to be available for my children). I'm aware that initially setting up a blog will be a time-consuming process, as well as signing up to mystery shopping companies etc.; to claim tax credits as a single parent I have to work for 16 hours or more per week, but I can see that these hours would be much higher (but flexible, which is my main issue with paid employment).

If you've got this far, in summary, I would like to know when I will be regarded as self-employed for the purposes of tax credits. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

Lou.
 

Jon

Money Making Megastar!
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
32,378
Points
283
Age
42
Location
Leeds
Hi everyone, I'm really hoping someone can help me with this!

I'm currently a (single) SAHM to my 3 children (17, 11 and 4)l; my little one started school in September and I've been looking for a job since then. I need something that will fit around my two younger children, particularly my 11 year old as I (and his school) believe that he may be on the autistic spectrum and he wouldn't settle with a childminder etc., nor would I be comfortable leaving him for any long period of time (my 17 year old is not about much due to college / work / boyfriend!)

I have dabbled in online earning over the years; I've done matched betting, casino sites, a few survey sites, and have just started looking into mystery shopping etc. (have gained many tips from reading through this website).

I am keen on starting a blog about money saving / money making, and also plan to apply for a job with Leapforce as soon as the kids go back to school (I have a BSc Hons so I'm hoping this will help with that process!). I know that working for a company such as Leapforce would be classed as self-employment; my question is, at what point does blogging become self-employment in the eyes of HMRC? Would it be as soon as I start, or the first time I receive a payment, e.g. through affiliate marketing / signups? (The aim of the blog is primarily to make me a passive income so I can continue to be available for my children). I'm aware that initially setting up a blog will be a time-consuming process, as well as signing up to mystery shopping companies etc.; to claim tax credits as a single parent I have to work for 16 hours or more per week, but I can see that these hours would be much higher (but flexible, which is my main issue with paid employment).

If you've got this far, in summary, I would like to know when I will be regarded as self-employed for the purposes of tax credits. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

Lou.
So HMRC don't care who you work for in the Online world. They probably don't even know what Leapforce is, or Roamler, or BeMyEye or Market Force or any of the stuff you see appear on here. All they care about is the big HOW MUCH DID YOU EARN THIS YEAR amount. All they care about is that once you've earned over £1000 a year in one way or another through self employment is that you tell them.
 

Charfinrumam

Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2018
Messages
7
Points
23
Age
43
Hi Jon,

Thank you very much for the reply. I guess my concern is that I'm currently claiming Income Support as a lone parent so if I was to start earning money I would need to declare it to the DWP (having done that before years ago, as an Avon Rep, I know what a complete pain that is) so would prefer to be self-employed first so I could switch over to tax credits iyswim. Also it's the whole "remunerative work" aspect of it that I'm not too sure on; would blogging be "remunerative work"? Would surveys etc. (as they pay less than the minimum wage)?

Kind regards,

Lou.
 

Jon

Money Making Megastar!
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
32,378
Points
283
Age
42
Location
Leeds
Hi Jon,

Thank you very much for the reply. I guess my concern is that I'm currently claiming Income Support as a lone parent so if I was to start earning money I would need to declare it to the DWP (having done that before years ago, as an Avon Rep, I know what a complete pain that is) so would prefer to be self-employed first so I could switch over to tax credits iyswim. Also it's the whole "remunerative work" aspect of it that I'm not too sure on; would blogging be "remunerative work"? Would surveys etc. (as they pay less than the minimum wage)?

Kind regards,

Lou.
With blogging you would earn money via Sponsored posts (one off payments) and affiliate links (ongoing passive income) and maybe a bit of 'paid' social media work. ie, I'll promote brand x with 3 tweets for £120 etc.

As that money comes in once it tops you over £1000 you would then register as self employed with HMRC and so an online tax return at the end of the tax year for the previous year.

I'm not too hot on the tax credits side of things but others like @katykicker may be able to advise you better
 

Charfinrumam

Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2018
Messages
7
Points
23
Age
43
Hi Jon,

Thank you very much for replying to me again!

I'm fine with tax returns etc. as I've been self-employed before (had my own cleaning business before I had my youngest); however with that it was easy to claim working tax credit, as I was doing more than the required number of hours per week and earning well over the minimum wage at that time (not that anyone official ever checked!)

Thank you for adding @katykicker in; I've been reading her website for some time now and she certainly seems to know her stuff!

Kind regards,

Lou.
 

katykicker

I am a work from home Mum from Essex.
Staff member
Joined
Nov 14, 2014
Messages
6,705
Points
373
Location
Harlow
Website
katykicker.com
Hiya!

Start by saying I'm not an expert in this field, however I'll give you the information I believe to be true.

You should be registered with HMRC once you're earning money, over the £1,000 thing that Jon mentioned (it has a special name but I can't remember!). With regards to tell them about being employed I don't know for sure, I assume that being self-employed makes that all easier, HOWEVER, I know of someone whose had issues before with the tax credit department because they didn't feel she was earning enough for the amount of hours she was working.

Any remuneration should be declared to HMRC, even paid surveys, but I was once told by HMRC that they aren't interested in £50 from YouGov or whatever (exact words). Matched betting is not taxable, as it is classed as gambling winnings.

It's SUCH a grey area with it all, and often leads to people getting demands YEARS later for some sort of back payment (my Mum had it recently for a period of time she didn't even have a young child to claim WFTC!)

I would be inclined to say that you wouldn't need to register until you have hit the £1k thing however I am sorry but I don't know when you would need to tel them about the money you're earning in the DWP or whatever they are calling themselves these days.

If I've missed something obvious in the above please do tag me back in as I've got my LO awake! xxxx
 

Charfinrumam

Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2018
Messages
7
Points
23
Age
43
Hi Katy,

Thank you so much for your reply.

It's certainly a minefield! From what I can gather, the last time I became self-employed (in 2012), HMRC didn't really ask for many details about what self-employed people were actually doing (hence why I was never asked for any particular details of my business). However, this changed in 2015 when it became necessary for self-employed people to prove they were in "gainful employment"; the main caveat of which appears to be, as you mentioned, whether they are earning the NMW at the hours they're claiming to have worked.

I think I'll hold off for now; get my blog set up "behind the scenes", sign up to everything I can, and hopefully if I manage to get through the (apparently arduous) application process at Leapforce I will be in gainful self-employment soon!

Lou x

P.S. Not sure where to post this but Open Learn, a free service from the Open University, have some really interesting courses for anyone blogging / running a website; I'm currently doing the Cyber Safety one and it's really good.
 
  • Like
Reactions: marriedmeeples

Jon

Money Making Megastar!
Joined
Oct 17, 2013
Messages
32,378
Points
283
Age
42
Location
Leeds
Hi Katy,

Thank you so much for your reply.

It's certainly a minefield! From what I can gather, the last time I became self-employed (in 2012), HMRC didn't really ask for many details about what self-employed people were actually doing (hence why I was never asked for any particular details of my business). However, this changed in 2015 when it became necessary for self-employed people to prove they were in "gainful employment"; the main caveat of which appears to be, as you mentioned, whether they are earning the NMW at the hours they're claiming to have worked.

I think I'll hold off for now; get my blog set up "behind the scenes", sign up to everything I can, and hopefully if I manage to get through the (apparently arduous) application process at Leapforce I will be in gainful self-employment soon!

Lou x

P.S. Not sure where to post this but Open Learn, a free service from the Open University, have some really interesting courses for anyone blogging / running a website; I'm currently doing the Cyber Safety one and it's really good.

Thanks for this! I've made a note to check those out this week!

I think you plan above make sense, get all your ducks lined up so to speak and then take it from there..
 

Members online

No members online now.

Amazon Discount Finder Tool

Find hidden 80%+ savings on Amazon products



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forum statistics

Threads
7,380
Messages
199,740
Members
11,387
Latest member
jbniche1