Thankyou for all our replies and assistance. I think maybe I wasn't that clear she is most concerned about though. Its not so much the self-assessment itself, but the worry of leaving it two years before registering for self assessment. She is worried about getting into trouble, as we have been reading up and its seems there is danger of that. We have worked out her earnings and they are no where near the thresholds for either year. Do you really think she needs to mention them at all? She has earnings from different clients for different things, but no massive earnings. It seems it like be hassle for nothing. But I wouldn't know, I'm not experienced with this kind of thing. Hence being on these forums!

Thanks for your reply, we've been looking into this, and believe you might be right. Any idea of what penalties she could be facing?

Thanks for your replies guys. So you think its not her worth mentioning this work done over the last two years, and to just start her self-employed status as from now?

No she has never received any benefits, not sick benefits or job seekers. She felt it was too stressful of a process to go through. Hence relying on the restaurant work and occasional tailoring work to feed herself. Eventually she was living with family who fully supported her until now. She is now ready to go full time with the tailoring and I have advised she go self employed. (she did the tailoring work in absence of any knowledge about Self Assessment - I think her condition could of contributed to lack of understanding the processes involved)

Hello! I am new to the forums, it is great to see such a valuable resource online Thanks for reading my post! I have looked through all the previous threads and can't seem to find a problem similar to my friend's. I was wondering if anyone could offer a bit of advice? Basically she has been off work quite along time due to illness, but has been on and off the books at a local restaurant, she has hardly worked there in the last 1-2years. But alongside this, she has been doing tailoring for people on a private basis. She has earnt money from this over the last 2 years, but never declared any of it (some of which did go straight into her bank). It is still way under the income tax thresholds for the years in which she did that work. (so this year £10,600) She has also been supported by family, and when asked by a creditor to show her income (because she wasn't really paying any and they of course got suspicious when their records with HMRC showed unemployed) she was able to show this in her statements. They had obviously taken her off the books again at the restaurant. Now she is much better and feels like the tailoring business could pick up and potentially be a full time self employed job for her. She wants to register as self employed, but is nervous as to when she should start her earnings from, as she is worried she will get in trouble for the previous years she didn't declare. Do you think its ok if she was to start the self employment from now onwards, which is when she is really going to start work full time. Or do you think it could come back to haunt her in the future. Help would be much appreciated!