Another tax question, extra work

[R B Customs]

apart form my regular day job i work for an ecological company doing wild life surveys, i maybe do about 8 -20 surveys per season but usually the pay was no problem as i was still classed as a student

I have just been paid £348.00 for 7 surveys

They gave me an invoice which i had to sign and give back to them, so that I was invoicing THEM for the work that i had done. and i received my cheque, which i put into my bank

the tax is a bit of a grey area though... what am i meant to do in this situation? obviously it will catch up to me as the tax man sees all and knows all. and my friend ( who is on job seekers) had just been approached by them asking what work he had been doing for this company.

Ta,
Rick

 

[a1ex2001]

If you are earning income like this you need to declare it so you need to get a tax form! contact you local tax office and explain the situation contrary to popular belief if you are being honest and trying to pay they are actually very helpful!

 

[Peño]

The student part is irrelevant.

That invoice - was it a tax form of any kind? And when you said "they" approached your friend - I assume you were referring to the taxman right? If so, that confirms that you'll need to be tax. As far as I'm aware, everyone is taxed for their income no matter what kind of company you work for.

Regardless of how many jobs you have, as long as your total income for the tax year is ~£5,000 you don't owe any income tax so if you've paid any you can claim it back (for the last tax year, mind).

 

[R B Customs]

Thanks guys.

The people that spoke to my friend were from the job centre, sop different kettle of fish... they are after him for working while bein on the dole... even though he declared the work to them ( the tpye of work we do is VERY highly payed, for a very short amount of time i.e £100 per over night session ( aprox 3 hours ) so its hard for him to declare... but i dont knwo much about job seekers.


I am asking because his situation has made me think about mine, and im a bit worried now in case I've cocked up. i will go and see the tax people later this week i guess. as long as they see my honesty and not try to bite my head off lol!

cheers guys
Rick

 

[Guv]

Sounds like you're working self employed so you should register with HMRC as a self employed person.
Then every year you should fill in a self assessment tax return form and pay the tax/National Insurance when required.

Even if you earn below the tax free limit of £5,225 for this year you should do this, but you just won't have any tax to pay.
As you're self employed you won't have already been taxed under PAYE so there's no tax to reclaim.