Work 4 days a week and want to do 1 day freelance elsewhere how do I go about registering self employed for that one day a week

[galaxybeyond]

Just that. So I will do 1 day a week freelance for someone else who wants me to invoice them. I will need to register self employed wont I - wont be earning loads but def over £1k a year.

Can I just do it online? Do I have to have a company name?

If you're self employed you just register online. Why are they asking you to be self employed though? Do you want to me?

You only need a company name if you open a limited company with company's house.

Sorry I didnt explain very well.

I currently work 4 days a week for a company.
I have 1 day free a week but they cant take me on for that extra day.
Ive decided for that 1 day a week I can work for someone else freelance. I have someone who wants work doing on an ad hoc basis so for instance next week theyve asked me to do some research work, I estimate it will take me say 8 hours. They have asked me to invoice them once the work is done then they can pay me.

So for this freelance work, I will need to be registered for this side as self employed?

Set up a government gateway account and then complete an annual self assessment form declaring you addition income. The system will already have your Paye details. It's pretty straightforward.

@squeekychicken thanks. So do they then send a tax bill for me to pay based on what Ive earnt? Im so new to all of this!

Do I have to have a business name? Or can I just head up the invoices in my own name etc. I was going to use an accountant to do it all and get advice but I think I can do it mysefl?

I'm an accountant. Your tax bill is based on the self assessment tax return which you will need to submit. You can put the invoices in your own name, you don't need a business name. You shouldn't need an accountant, as your tax return should be very simple.

I do this OP. I'm part time employed and I also do one day of freelance work. You don't necessarily need a business name, I'm pretty sure I just put in my own name on my tax return. If you start doing the work now, you won't need to pay any tax on the freelance bit until January 2025, as you do the self assessment tax return in the January after the previous tax year ended in April. Well, you can do it earlier but the deadline is January 31st! So for example, if you've done one day a week of freelance work from Dec 23 to Apr 24, you'll do a tax return no later than Jan 31st 2025 to pay that tax. It will obviously take into account tax that you've paid via PAYE to prevent you overpaying.

Using an accountant is advisable but I don't and many people don't. If your freelance work is straightforward, just you being paid by an individual, and you don't have loads of expenses, it's pretty easy to do it yourself. You fill in an endless form online and at the very end it does a tax calculation for you.

I wouldnt have thought you need an accountant if its all fairly straight forward - just make sure you invoice the customer and then keep copies of the invoices.

Keep back 20% of the payment received if you are basic rate tax payer so that you can pay it when then you submit a tax return in the January following the end of the tax year. If you are earning less than something like £12000 a year self employed you dont pay national insurance. You can also offset expenses against the tax

Its all relatively straight forward - the gov.uk website has all the info and forms to register online etc

Thanks for the advice. Do I need to:
Register self employed now? Ive started the work already but said I would invoice after Christmas

Keep invoices

So a new tax year starts April each year but you fill in a tax return on 31 January each year?

@cinnamonbiscuit Im the same, paid employment 4 days, and 1 day freelance. Do you have to open a business bank account or can you get paid into yr personal current account to begin with?

what do you put on yr invoice...
Name, address, invoice number, date, date payment due, bank details. Anything else?

@galgalaxybeyond yes that's right, tax year goes april-april but you do the return by the end of the following Jan. That way you can clearly see exactly what you owe for the previous year because you're not still in it. If the amount of tax you pay goes over a threshold (can't remember what exactly, might be £1k?) then you have to start paying on account which is when they split your bill into two payments in July and January. The first time you do it, though, it's just a January payment. They'll tell you if you need to pay on account going forward.

You don't need to open a business account, but you can do if you think it would make things clearer for you when figuring out your return. I find it personally easy to see my income on my personal account because it's just one payment a month.

That sounds right for invoice, you can also put a breakdown of what you're invoicing for if you want.

I believe the deadline for registering for self assessment is in early October (5th?) it will say exactly when on the gov.uk website. It's definitely October you register to file a return the following Jan.

Honestly I was extremely daunted by all of this when I first started but once you get your head round it, it's fairly straightforward.

You’re obliged to register at the latest by 5 October following the end of the tax year that you started. So 5 October 2024. But just sort it asap.

Registering for self employment and filling in the online tax returns are pretty straightforward.

• I don't have a registered business name
• not registered for VAT as don't earn enough sadly
• I do pay self employed national insurance
• I don't use an accountant - my tax etc is so simple and I don't earn enough to justify the expense, ie what they would save me would be far less then their fee!
• I do have a different bank account for business, just for ease of checking income and expenses for filling in the tax return. It's an online account with Starling - it's free and I get interest on the account (OK it's only pennies but...)

Just one word of warning - is your freelance in the same professional field as your paid employment ? Eg you're an architect in a practice and you'll be making architectural drawings as a freelance. Some employers have clauses in their employment contracts about not working for other companies in the same field.

It sounds daunting 😒but hopefully wil fall into place. The freelance.work wont be a monthly payment just wirk as and when...I only decided to do this last week.
So Im going to register online tomorrow and take it from there

It's honestly not hard at all. Use some free accounting software. Pm me if you like.

You can take any "business expenses" out of your income before tax. Laptop etc to do the work on.

If you open a Nat west account you can get free access to their Free agent accounting software which does everything you need

Will start with the basics first

UPDATE
I'm registering as self-employed today. As I said in my first post it is just 1 day a week (I have a paid 4 day a week job for another company not self employed) so when I go onto to register it's talking about sole trader, Ltd business, business name etc.

I don't want a business name, Im getting all in a fluster!

All I want to do is do some freelance work and invoice a customer then do the tax return each year.

Also I dont have to tell my current employer do I? As it's not related to work I do for them etc.

Is this the correct link Set up as self-employed (a 'sole trader'): step by step - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Hi OP, yes it's register as sole trader that you want to do. It will probably ask for a business name but you can just put your own name if there is no other name.

I'm not sure re telling your employer - double check in your contract that they don't require you to inform them if you're doing other work, but if you only work there part time I don't see how they could reasonably stop you.

@cinnamonbiscuit Thank you. Im not telling them it doesn't affect my work there and realistically I won't be earning much self-employed 1 day a a week so it won't change a tax code etc.

😀Im sure Im whittling about nothing - I just dont want to register it all wrong - sounds so official - Im not going to be breaking the bank probably earning just over a 2K a year - Im going to do it now and register

Right think Ive finally done it correctly....no sure though!
I went onto to register but dont have the Unique Tax Reference as you dont get this until you have registered if you are doing it for the first time!

It then send you to an online form which is just name and address etc. So will wait for this code.

So Im hoping I can do some work now as Ive been offered some work tomorrow but they want it invoicing immediately

I dont know why Im worrying so much!!!!!