Becoming self employed. Please provide advice and tips asap

[d3v]

Hi everyone, I'm currently on the dole but have set up a small computer repair business complete with website, advert leaflets and have had customers already for quite a few months now. I work out of the £300 pcm flat that I rent privately. I get housing benefit.

 

I reckon I make about £40 a week on average, which is utter crap so the dole money I get is absolutely neccesary for me to survive, however with A4E becoming unbearable to tolerate any longer I just want to get out of the dole and on to self employed benefits however I have many concerns.

 

1. I currently get about £60 a week on the dole. How much a week will I get being self employed?

2. I currently get £273 a month worth of housing benefit. How much housing benefit will I get being self employed? Is working out of your place of residence allowed or are there special rules, ect?

 

Basically I want to know if my benefits will be comparable to being on the dole. I hope it will not be any less than the dole. It's infuriating how one cannot make decent money even after having put in the effort to create a business and so requires massive government financial subsidies just to get by with food and rent bills.

 

I eagerly await your advise. I will be going to my local inland revenue office tomorrow to start the process of self employment.

[reallymadwoman]

1. Unless your JSA is contributory, you should have been declaring your earnings from the start and if you haven't you could end up owing DWP at best. At worst, you could be prosecuted.

 

2. How much you will get being self-employed depends on your circumstances, how many hours you work and how much you earn.

 

3. Does your lease allow you to run a business from the property? If not, you could find yourself being evicted. If it does, the council will want to know which bits of the property are used exclusively for business as those parts may be liable for business rates rather than council tax.

 

4. How much housing benefit you get will again depend upon your circumstances and income. You may also get some help toward council tax.

 

You also really should have registered with HMRC before you started trading. I have a suspicion that a lot of the help available to people starting their own business may no longer be available to you as you've already started trading.

[d3v]

My situation is a simple as it gets, no kids, single, living in a crappy little privately rented bedsit. I would love to know if being self employed would get me the same amount of housing benefit that I already get, and ideally same amount of living money I get from the dole which is £273 & £240 respectively. I'll just tell HMRC I carry out work on-site at customers house... who cares if I bring a laptop home to repair every now and then?

 

Basically I want to know if I'd be better or worse off! Also what answers do I give HMRC to gain the most benefit possible? I'll be working over 30 hours a week, what else do you need to know... can anyone of experience let me know if I'd be better or worse off so I can make a decision as to weather to put up with these A4E gestapo **** or cease dole and go self employed instead?

[maroondevo52]

Hi,

 

Going self-employed is tough, I was self-employed for years and never got a jot from anyone (well apart from my customers) my situation was very different from yours regarding having a family and wife working ect, I honestly don't know what you can claim or get help with whilst being self-employed but hopefully the guys on the forum will be able to help you.

 

If you do decide to go self-employed I hope it works out for you.

 

Good luck.

 

Regards,

 

Scott.

[reallymadwoman]

If you work at least 30 hours a week you may qualify for some working tax credits, depending on how much you earn. There's a calculator here https://www.gov.uk/working-tax-credit.

 

Regarding housing and council tax benefit, without knowing where you live or what the local allowances are plus how much you earn, there is no way anyone can tell you how much you would get. Your local authority probably has a calculator on their website.

[d3v]

If you work at least 30 hours a week you may qualify for some working tax credits, depending on how much you earn. There's a calculator here https://www.gov.uk/working-tax-credit.

 

Regarding housing and council tax benefit, without knowing where you live or what the local allowances are plus how much you earn, there is no way anyone can tell you how much you would get. Your local authority probably has a calculator on their website.

 

The thing with these calculators are there's just so many and you never know which applies to myself and also they ask for stuff I do not yet know about like how much tax credit do you receive, ect. I reckon I'd be earning no more than 5 grand a year, if that. In anyones general experience would the HB be the same amount that I already get while on the dole, I'm under 35 so get £300 maximum, however I get £273 per month.

 

edit: ok I winged it through my local council benefit calculator and the results say I will get the same amount of HB that I already get, however that's assuming my answers were all correct!

Edited October 18, 2013 by d3v

[Hacked_Off]

Speak to the knob centre about new enterprise allowance

[d3v]

Speak to the knob centre about new enterprise allowance

 

I tried that but because I'm with the work program they keep referring me to A4E and no way in hell do I want the annoying little twit that is my advisor to get any sort of commission after what he's put me through the past 6 months!

 

What is a new enterprise allowance, is it a one off sum of money or a weekly/monthly thing? If it's the former I ain't too bothered, I just want a steady benefit income comparable to being on the dole. Is there any way to inquire about all this stuff without going through my WP provider A4E?

Edited October 21, 2013 by honeybee13

[Hacked_Off]

It's a weekly allowance, £66 per week for three months, then £33 per week for three months. You can also apply for a start up loan of 1k.

 

You could try speaking to the princes trust or blue orchard directly.

 

If you don't want the WP benefiting from you ensure you remove consent.

[Conniff]

Have a read of what this charity has to say, lots of info here - http://www.turn2us.org.uk/information__resources/benefits/working_or_looking_for_work/self_employment.aspx

[tezza1234]

It sounds like you have been trading and had custom whilst also receiving doll money, as others have said that is not good at all, potential Fraud.

[d3v]

Hi all, I registered as self employed over the phone a day or so after my last post here. That was the easy part - only needed 3 minutes to do. She said to wait for papers in the post, to fill it out and send it back. A week passed and finally got the Tax Credits form in the post. Some of it was too cryptic for me to fill out so I cycled to the local inland revenue office and the kind receptionist lady filled the rest of it out for me at the front desk and offered to post it, too.

 

Just waiting now for everything to be completed by HMRC... should be another 3-4 weeks yet. I received my last JSA payment a week before I completed/sent my tax credit form off, and HMRC backdate tax credits from the day they receive said form, so I shouldn't, fingers crossed, have any tax credit/JSA payment overlap.

 

All in all much simpler than I thought it would be. Only question now is how much tax credits will I get, and not forgetting now I have to deal with council in regards to housing benefit... hopefully that won't be difficult... and hopefully will receive the same or more HB as I did on JSA.

 

Will keep thread updated... surely will help guys in similiar predicament.

[Perseus1]

It's a weekly allowance, £66 per week for three months, then £33 per week for three months. You can also apply for a start up loan of 1k.

 

You could try speaking to the princes trust or blue orchard directly.

 

If you don't want the WP benefiting from you ensure you remove consent.

 

I started on this route in publishing. I never made any money but it was hard work and good experience.

 

Also, I had to mend my own computers. Now I take them to the local computer shop.

 

I would recommend trying to get a job at a local computer shop fixing up computers. Pay will be low but the people who fix the computers now have expertise.

 

There is a reason for this. Businesses like mine that in the old days that would have used private repairers will now buy their computers from a local shop for the service they provide. The service is good.

 

After working in a repair shop you may think you are good enough to start up on your own. But it is moving at a fast rate nowadays. Private businesses cannot keep up and they need someone who they can call on.

 

How did I finance my business. I collected subscription in advance and did not the pay the bills on time because I had not capital.

 

I was working at other jobs as well to make ends meet. Then someone did not pay me on time (they went bankrupt) and although I sued and got the money, cash flow problems became unbearable. And to cap it all a rival sent up with more capital and he went bankrupt as well, but I lost more work.

 

Always give it a go though. I made all the mistakes under the sun and muddled through. Illness was the worst one. I was working so hard that I did not cook a meal properly and got salmonella. I could not work properly.

 

Before, I started I got the accounts etc all organised using a computer program. That is vitally important, especially later on.

Edited November 8, 2013 by Perseus1

[Perseus1]

It sounds like you have been trading and had custom whilst also receiving doll money, as others have said that is not good at all, potential Fraud.

 

You get around this by sending in the Accounts to JSA that show an annual loss.

 

Lots of people are like this, share fishermen, musicians, actors, small publishers, writers, after dinner speakers etc. Part time work. You have to send in a Tax Return and Accounts so the books have got be accurate, sort of.

 

Tell them what you are doing before the Fraud Investigators get you. It almost turns into voluntary hobby work.

#

 

There are even hobby farmers, who get grants.

 

PS: do not go into a formal partnership with anyone. Just don't. Lots of reasons mainly legal liabilities for partner debts.

Edited November 8, 2013 by Perseus1

[d3v]

To conclude the thread, I'm receiving a measly £52 per week tax credits. Housing benefit hasn't changed, no doubt because I declared that I had only just started trading, and no doubt they will become more gestapo about it all as time goes on.

 

On the tax form I declared my estimated yearly profits would be £2000 and opted for the SEE (small earnings exemption) so I don't have to pay the £120 a year national insurance tax. Apparently I won't be entitled to a state pension if I opt for SEE. Somehow I doubt that.

 

So I'm worse off than when I was on JSA and with a bunch of flaky customers not turning up lately to drop off their broken machines even though they agreed over phone/email, I am really very ****ed off especially when this greedy landlord cow will be expecting here extortionate rent in less than a week.

 

Hope this helps others who are considering the same move. Wish I read something like this before taking the plunge.

[maroondevo52]

Hi,

 

I'm sorry to read how things have turned out for you, like I said earlier it is tough, it was when I started up all those years ago and no doubt it's worse now.

Regarding the customers who have let you down I had stacks of them myself, bouncing checks ect and not paying when they should have.

 

On of the reasons I was hammered with Bank charges was because of customers delaying paying me, ended up sueing the Banks and getting all my charges back but the damage had already been done, closed accounts ect.

 

I hope things get better for you in the near future, let us know how things go.

[Perseus1]

To conclude the thread, I'm receiving a measly £52 per week tax credits. Housing benefit hasn't changed, no doubt because I declared that I had only just started trading, and no doubt they will become more gestapo about it all as time goes on.

 

On the tax form I declared my estimated yearly profits would be £2000 and opted for the SEE (small earnings exemption) so I don't have to pay the £120 a year national insurance tax. Apparently I won't be entitled to a state pension if I opt for SEE. Somehow I doubt that.

 

So I'm worse off than when I was on JSA and with a bunch of flaky customers not turning up lately to drop off their broken machines even though they agreed over phone/email, I am really very ****ed off especially when this greedy landlord cow will be expecting here extortionate rent in less than a week.

 

Hope this helps others who are considering the same move. Wish I read something like this before taking the plunge.

 

Yep. I have been there.

 

I got a regular contract before I started so I had a monthly income. When that ceased I was in trouble.

 

For the first year they made up my income (a loss because all profits/earnings went back into the business) to equal JSA. Then I was on my own.

 

It was always, no fix, no fee.