for not declaring my earnings for tax purposes

[sneakylady]

I have a very small business and do cash in hand work a few hours a week and earn £30 - £60 a week, no more, so not exactly a fortune. I have been doing it about 6 months, it comes in handy. dh works, doesn't earn loads, about 23k, we have two little DC. we use it towards the food bill usually.

And I have NO intention of declaring it as it will screw up our already measly tax credits. In fact, I actually feel quite smug for doing it, as we get screwed enough in this country and have every last drop of money squeezed out of us in petrol prices, gas and electric food prices, property prices etc so why shouldn't we keep something for us?

my intention is to slowly build my business then when both DC are at school I will go "legit" and declare it all. AIBU?

YAB ignorant:

• not to understand what the income tax threshold is
• to run a business that makes such a paltry amount of money
• to think that you can be smug about both of the above

have a

As someone who is also self employed and pays tax I am apparently paying YOU and YOUR FAMILY to have a house over your head, food on the table and access to free (at the point of access) healthcare, education, armed forces, roads, police and all the many other things taxes pay for in this country.
YABVU.

Woah Shelly!

YABU

because you took the words right out of my

It's rather silly to risk everything for £10 a week.

Sorry chicletteeth

I'm not a user of the C word usually, but this has really got my goat, so to speak.

Everyone goes on about bankers etc not paying enough tax, but at least they're not actually breaking the law; even if it does need changing so they pay more.

you should be careful OP that one of your customers doesnt put it through their accounts and it gets picked up that way

You're not working an hour 'for free'.
It's called tax.

I think MN should out you so you can be identified and reported.

So I'm not in such a minority, then!

OP won't be back.

She's probably gone out to gleefully spend the tenner in TC she shouldn't have on something worthy like bingo or perhaps a couple of bottles of plonk

On your earnings there will not be any tax due, however you would have to pay national insurance monthly, any money you receive may well not have any effect on any add on benefits you get like child tax credits/working tax credits.

Here's a little stat for you Ms Sneaky/Smug - if everyone in this country paid the tax they were due to, the rate of tax would be 1p in the pound for everyone.

p.s. you're a thief, pure and simple

What is the mumsnet policy on people who openly admit to be breaking the law? OP I would be amazed if HMRC haven't already had their attention brought to this thread, and can compel MN to give them your email address.

YABVU

and others have said, it's not if you caught, but when

I am refraining from writing anymore as I am too

Actually, you can opt out of paying NI if your earnings are under something like £4.5k pa.

I registered with the tax office as soon as I set up my will writing business because being prosecuted for tax evasion would not be good publicity for a lawyer .

Fabbychic, OP might qualify for low earnings NI so would be able to build her contributions without having to pay anything.
Not that she deserves it.

You can report tax evasion here on the HMRC website.

Enjoy waiting for the knock on the door OP.

I actually have no issue with this at all - I believe in keeping out of other people's business as far as is possible.

I do not understand, however, why you have felt the need to 'brag' about it on here and feel smug and 'enjoy' people's reactions. Why not just quietly go about your business?

OP you sound a bit simple. Don't you understand how taxes work?

I don't understand
a) how the OP can run a (very) small business but have no idea about the tax side of things
b) how the OP can be so naive to the fact that, like another poster has said, she could get outed unintentionally by a customer declaring something on their accounts
c) what kind of response was the OP expecting??
d) how the OP is going to grow her business and then go legit and declare everything then - again so naive

Do you do people's ironing or cleaning?

I think it was an error of judgement to start this thread! Seriously, no point to it.

I have gone "legit" as it were with my eBay selling because I started buying stock with the express intention of reselling it at a profit. The law states that if that's what you are doing then you need to register as Self Employed & complete annual tax returns.

Some months I make £200, others I make £0 - depending on the amount of time I have had to organise listings & so forth. At the moment we are in the process of packing up the current house, decorating the new one & then moving in on 1st July. (Aswell as being 31 weeks pregnant & on twice weekly hospital antenatal ). Oh, and am supposed to be "resting" due to BP problems.

Basically, I have never paid tax as my annual income is always way below the threshold. The income does not significantly alter our family's tax credits either as I remember. My advice would be to go "legit" as you'll lose almost nothing and can't get into trouble for not declaring anything!!