Self employed advice for childminding

[Daisydaydreamer]

Hi i got my certifcate a couple of weeks ago i have no mindees yet, when do i need to register as self employed?? Is it when i get start minding my first child, I have already started advertising and already paid out for equipment and courses ect

i think it's within 3 months of starting to earn money? not 100% though so bumping for you

As nice as it would be to claim receipts now, save yourself the hassle and wait til new tax year. But then do it ASAP so you can start working. You do have to do it within three months of starting "your business."

You need to inform HMRC within 3 months of starting - you can hold all your invoices/receipts as pre-trading costs which can be added to you expenses for your self-assessment

Plus you need to register & pay NI contributions

my local council have just informed me that my wife needs to have a commercial collection for the waste generated by the children in her care is this true ?

gooddad this doesnt suprise me at all, however if you havnt already I would get in touch with your EYP to clarify the councils stance on this. ime most la's will allow a limit of mindees before they require you to register for planning permission (here its 12) obv with planning comes business rates, water rates and commercial collection etc, so often its more cost effective to stay just below the limit.

Just a note to say that the 3 month period for registration as self employed no longer applies - you must register as soon as you start earning money. Bear in mind that you only qualify for certain benefits when you are registered and paying Class 2 NI.

Re. non-domestic waste - I suggest you contact the NCMA as this is potentially a huge issue for childminders.

atworknotworking thanks for that advise, we have 3 of our own children so our numbers are limited as 2 are early years so we are only allowed to look after 1 more early years child and then we have 3 before and after school ? and mrAnchovy i am awaiting a reply from ncma as my wife is a member thanks again

I registered self employed straight away. It's quite easy to do and if you make a loss in your first year, you can offset it against tax on other earnings (if you have any).

I am always waiting for someone to come along and charge me business rates for waste disposal. DH and I work together, are registered for 12 children and we have planning permission from the Council, so we certainly haven't hidden our business use from them. We don't pay business rates, different water rates, or anything else, despite the fact that we have a change of use listed against the house. I was told at the time that this would only apply if we set a portion of the house aside as exclusively used for the business, which we don't. (Things like capital gains tax, etc were also mentioned if we did that)

I think our local council have got around this by restricting the amount of rubbish bags we are able to use. If we want more bags (for nappies etc), then we have to buy them from the Council.

hsmm Funny you should say about charging for waste disposal.

I applied to my council for a larger bin and they said because i run a 'business' i would have to pay over £400 for a larger bin, i only wanted it because of the extra nappies etc! When i refused i got a leaflet about cloth nappies through the post and was advised to get the parents using them!