Thank you for your clarification, ericsbrother. Really rather scary

Dear ericsbrother, thank you very much for your detailed, and overall very useful comment. I have added it up to your reputation on this forum. Especially encouraging is this part of your comment, in which you state that paying an accountant or bookkeeper is not necessary. Did you have any accounting professional to help you just only create and set up your business record keeping system, or did you even this bit execute on your own, without any help? What is rather surprising to me is your problematic experience with producing your NI 2 & 4 figures on your online self-assessment tax return. As far as I know, the rate of NI 2 is flat and depends only on the length of you accounting period, whereas the NI 4 is simply a percentage of your taxable business profits. Did the built-in calculator on the HMRC online form produce wrong figures against your will? Once again, thank you very much for your kind advice. Best Regards Dan

Hello, I am planning to start several business activities at the same time, or shortly after one another within the same accounting period, as a non-VAT registered sole trader. I am thinking about stuff like window cleaning, oven cleaning, car interior detailing, house window film installation, car window tinting, conservatory window and door tinting, wall dressing, and maybe also some painting and decorating. For the Income Tax and National Insurance purposes, I would prefer to report all those activities to HMRC as only one business. If I was to run more than one business, I am afraid I would have to keep not only one, but two or more sets of business records, which would cost me a lot of extra time as well as extra money in accounting fees. Does anyone know if there is any official guidance or case law on how much similar various business activities should be so that one can still conveniently place them under "still only one business" umbrella for the Income Tax and National Insurance purposes? Would I avoid any potential HMRC penalties for NOT separating multiple businesses (trades), if I described my business for instance as "general handymanship"? Any advice will be most appreciated.

Thank you, scotgal68, for your help.

Hello, I am a single and childless person who wants to set up an online business as a sole trader. I have never been a sole trader before, so I currently have no Unique Tax Reference. I want to register as a sole trader with my local HMRC within next several days. However, although I will be working for 50-60 hours per week on my online business from the very beginning, it will take no less than six months before I can start earning any income. So, by 05/04/2013 (i.e. for the Tax Year 2012-2013), I will have a zero income from my self employment (and £7,781.06 of gross income from my previous employment that I quit in September 2012). Moreover, even from 06/04/2013 (the starting date of Tax Year 2013-2014) it will take several more months before I can start making any self-employment earnings. Now, the Law says that the Working Tax Credits can be granted only to someone, who does some “qualifying and remunerative work”, which means - in the case of self employed people - any work that is (or is expected to be) for payment or profit. In my case, will the quite considerable, circa 6 months’ period between setting up my business and first earnings not make any problems? Will I not be told by the HMRC something like “show your income first and only then we will be paying you any Working Tax Credits”? Or will my Working Tax Credit application or entitlement not be investigated, after I show my zero self employment income for the Tax Year 2012-2013 after 05/04/2013? The bottom line: will it not be more practical for me to sacrifice any Working Tax Credits until the end of Tax Year 2012-2013, and apply for the Working Tax Credits only after 05/04/2013 instead? Thank you in advance for your practical advice, experience or opinion.