taxes putting off parents (new nanny)

[minnan]

I am finding that taxes and the idea of having to employ me and produce payslips is just too much for the families that I will potentially start woring for. Basically the parents expect me to deal with it and find out what they need to do, which is a nightmare. But also, I do not want to lose the jobs because of this.

Job 1 will be 8 hrs weekly term time and more during hols. Job 2 is 8-10 hours weekly all year. As I start Job 1 first, it will be my main job and use up my allowances, whatever that means..? When I start Job 2 they will have to pay tax at 20% straight away? I will still earn next to nothing all year but will be taxed at 20%, I assume I would get a tax return. And who pays my NI, and do they always pay that or only after I earn over £146 weekly (?? and is it £146 from one job or altogether?) Job 1 will pay me less than £107 per week, so apparently the employer does not need to register/pay tax/operate paye? But then during easter break I would work more and earn about £200 per week from Job 1, and she would then need to register? AND pay tax? What about when it goes back to less than £107 after the hols? I have agreed a gross wage to make it easier for them to employ me. But I have learned that it is not easy..also, what does splitting a tax code mean, and when would that be useful? Who do you think should pay my taxes and why? Apparently you can split your allowance between the two jobs as well, but how and why would you do that?

I am considering a nanny payroll agy, but am not in a position to pay £200 for this. Is there an agency where I could register as a nanny and they would sort out taxes and payslips from both my jobs for a single charge rather than both employers having to sign up separately (which will just not happen). Basically they refuse to pay for a payroll agency at all. Recommendations? When not using payroll agy, what kind of payslips do you produce? Is it actually difficut to operate PAYE or the real time thing that is coming on in April..?

I have called HMRC but they want the employers to call separately, and do not really give advice on how to get thing going and what would be the smartest thing to do. I know this should be my employers' problem, but they are just so sticky about this all. Might post this in the employment section as well, hope that's not against the rules..
xx

well it's wrong for the employers to try to push their tax responsibilities onto you.

no idea about the actual ins and outs, sorry, but both lots of employers are being stupidly pathetic and I would not touch them with a bargepole.

you totally need Nick or MrA, someone with that level of experience and knowledge, to come o here and help you properly

I totally sympathise but not sure how much I can help. I employed nannies for years, agreed a gross salary ( like all normal jobs) did PAYE returns, paid employers NI and gave my nannies paid holidays/ sick leave etc etc.

On the other hand almost every nanny I ever employed came to me with no proper tax records, often not even an NI number. As their employers (often very well off professional people) had thought it was ok to pay them cash in hand and ignore the law.

It really annoyed me as nanny salaries became over inflated by the fact that 90% of people employing them were paying a net salary, not a gross one.

Your employers are legally obliged to operate PAYE. Agree a gross salary with each and they should sort it out. It is not difficult if it is done this way and if they have half a brain they do not need to use a nanny payroll agency. If they are operating a proper PAYE system on a gross salary no one needs to worry much about which job pays the most tax.

I have to add to the above rant that this ridiculous position was perpetuated by nanny agencies who insisted on quoting me net salaries for nannies rather than gross salaries. Which is part of the reason that I stopped using them.

Tell them to go to nannytax.co.uk or payefornannies.co.uk or nannypaye.co.uk and they will sort it all out for them.

It's not your responsibility. If your employers are being this useless now it doesn't bode well for the future imo.

Things are chnaging from this april, so you have to now report payroll monthly and via software - its a bit more hassle and on top of that they have to register as an employer......i'm not sure i would be that enthusiastic either for just a few hours a week.

I think your best bet is to ring up HMRC and look into being self-employed, explain you've two very part-time jobs, both with variable hours and i assume that you'll be looking for another job(s) to fill your time. If you call the self-employment section and explain all, i find them usually quite helpful. You can then be paid a gross salary and sort out tax/ni.

Karolean makes a helpful point. You might also find out if HMRC still operate a simplified PAYE scheme - I know someone who used to use this. It was specially designed for domestic employers and meant to be easier than the full blown thing.

I've just employed a p/t nanny 12 hrs a week. I'm using PAYE for nannies, they don't cost much and make it easy. as far as I was concerned I am an employer and I have to do things properly, that includes a gross salary, paying tax properly and producing payslips

If you were to have more clients, if HMRC status team did say you could be self employed, you would lose the employment rights you have as an employee and thus would need to charge clients a lot more money - at an estimate I would say probably 50% more possibly more than that - as you will have accounts to do, class 2 and 4 NI, all sorts of things that will cost you either fininacially or in time.

With several small jobs it can be a situation where you would split taxcode. However that would be between you and HMRC and I do not see how it would make any difference to your employers as they will have agreed a gross salary.

Ask yourself this - if an employer is not prepared to spend 135 pounds a year on a payroll company, what else may they decide they do not want to pay? Think of things like statutory payments like holiday pay, think of things job related such as cost of activities, mileage (if you use your car), food for you and the children to eat. If the parents wanted to save money they could do the payroll themseleves, they would have to learn how to do it and spend the time.

Do you really want to do several jobs of a few hours a week? Are those your only option? If you want to work part-time then a 30-40 hour a week job is easier in my view, as it will just the entire of your tax allowance and the fee charged by payroll companies is the same regardless of hours worked. The employers would however be paying employers NI where as with the small hours jobs the employers NI may well be very small, or nothing at all.
www.mranchovy.com/calc/ will show you employers NI calculation based on a given salary.

You can split your tax allowances between 2 jobs.

Nick is 100 per cent spot on. Just as an FYI. Move on from these people.

Don't go self employed, whatever you do, don't do it and tell them to jog on, it is not worth it.

I know how difficult it is to be a new nanny and trying to get serious employers as a new nanny (because a lot of serious employers want experienced nannies!). I really struggled when I was first looking for live-out work to get people who would pay me legally and properly, I pushed the issue with one of my families and refused to sign a contract until they put a gross wage in there and agreed to be my employers.

I'm dreading finding work when one of my jobs ends in September for this very reason, but at the end of the day, doing things properly and legally is better than not.

Also, you'll get no holiday pay, no sick pay, no maternity pay and so on.