Sensible thread for self-employed people

[Bflatmajorsharp]

Could we have one please?

You know, where we don't have to continually confirm that yes we pay the same taxes as employed people, yes we pay slightly less NI but don't have access to SSP or pension contributions, yes the HMRC does know what we earn as we submit a tax return each year.

It's really struck me this weekend that offering no financial support to the 5million SE/gig workers is a public health issue.

People are still going to work because they can't afford not to. Some London tubes were packed today with people who cannot social distance, not because their jobs are vital but because they cannot afford not to work.

I hope that the govt address this sharpish. It's so dangerous.

They could just give a one-off payment of 80% of 3 years, for one month, to everyone self-employed, with a maximum of £2500, and then just not worry if some people ended up a bit overpaid with that

That's what I'm hoping they'll do, for each month that this goes on for. DP drives fork lift trucks and similar machines and most of his work in the summer is on the festivals and we're starting to see some of these being cancelled or postponed.

Outside the festival season he sometimes drives the machines on building sites but sometimes does concert work in local arenas but his income really is all over the place but we're expecting it to be lower than normal this calendar year.

An average will be a lot simpler than trying to say what he normally gets paid and when as it's anywhere between nothing if he goes a couple of weeks with no work or goes on holiday, a couple of hundred pounds a week if he does the odd arena gig or two to as much as £2k in a week for some of his best paid work. Of course when he earns the money and when it comes in varies by a few weeks or more as well, plus further complicated by some of it being fully freelance, some being PAYE and some being taxed according to the construction industry scheme, which makes his tax return a joy.

Joining the thread.

When we were told to claim for UC I put my arms up and screamed at the TV ‘NOOOOOO!’

The CAB only in Dec advised me NOT to claim for this because I’d lose my WTC & CTC and actually be in a worse financial situation.

Please God let today be better.

I’m self employed and due a baby in May. I have only been self employed since last July. Before that I was an employee paying PAYE and had been for about 20 years.

I haven’t filed any tax returns yet. I had been planning on topping up my maternity allowance with a couple of KIT Days a month to make it possible to live. That’s not going to happen now though, is it? So I’ve hung around to see what the government offer for self employed is before submitting my MA form because I hope it may make up for my lost income if it takes into account my previous PAYE income, but it won’t will it?

I even emailed my MP about this and a lack of clarity or direction around which businesses should shut down. Without the direction many businesses can’t claim upon their insurance (my husband is in this position). Apparently it is perfectly clear, the government can’t possibly legislate for everyone and common sense must be used. I’m all for common sense but a little bit of help from the government so that a claim could be made off of paid for insurance if the business was to shut down, thus meaning 19 people wouldn’t lose their jobs, would be really helpful.

I’m not applying for UC because we’d lose TC and be worse off

DH and I run a holiday cottage complex and cafe , we’ve obviously had to close , our staff ( we think ) will get the 80% for staying at home safely ,
We still have huge running costs , and no income
Our savings are to do some refurbishments , hopefully we won’t have to use them to live on
Hopefully , we’ll have some good news this evening

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Also joining. DH and I both lost 100% of our income. I’ve been SE for 16 years and DH for 12. We are not entitled to UC due to small amount of savings Which we have in isa’s in lieu of a pension. So we won’t starve although not sure if banks will release ISAs etc without penalty (or at all). Employed get help regardless of savings so feels unfair. Really keeping my fingers crossed for today’s announcement.

Following. DH self employed hairdresser.

The really worrying thing for me (as well as no income!) is thinking of starting back up again if that ever becomes possible. As soon as any restrictions are lifted it doesn't mean the SE will be able to immediately jump back to work. My business is small and only around 2.5-3 years old...most of that time was building up clients and taking on further training/qualifications so I have very little profit to show. I can't spend another 2.5-3 years re-building the momentum and client list, whereas employed people will mostly just go back to a previous role after being on their 80%.

Dh soletrader. Contract he was subcontracted to was postponed. 100 per cent of income lost. Would he be expected to take other job asbuilding sites not stopping but the social distancing can not be implemented.

My DH is a free lance IT. IR35 killed off his contracts, so we’re going into this with very small cash reserves. We’re going to be fucked. We have 4 kids.

All over Twitter saying any help is means tested, no help it we have more than 6k in savings, can’t be right?

Oh god no

@WwfLeopard hope not!!
What if those savings are set aside for tax and VAT bills??

I know, surely it can’t be right? It’s all over Twitter though

All over Twitter saying any help is means tested, no help it we have more than 6k in savings, can’t be right

I've already resigned myself to this.
Employed people could have £1million savings and still get help.
Only hope now is that they come up with a treatment PDQ.

And what happens once the savings run out...you're back to the same place anyway?

Would he be expected to take other job asbuilding sites not stopping but the social distancing can not be implemented

We are in this position too. Apparently building sites are exempt because they are "outside". Loads of pics of builders on WhatsApp not keeping distance and sharing toilet facilities with no soap or water available to them. Also my DH says they all share tools and it's impossible to maintain distance.

*Twitter not WhatsApp! (I'm getting old)

What if those savings are set aside for tax and VAT bills

If you did your tax return on 6 April could you use the money to pay your tax bill? It's not deprivation of capital as it's not your money and you would avoid being expected to spend the tax money on living costs - ask your accountant though if this will work.

Who is posting this info on Twitter? What are the sources?

oh no. If it include savings, I'm screwed too. I was hoping to be able to another few percent in my shared ownership flat, as there's no way I can keep paying this level of rent long term. And some of the savings were in lieu of pension. If I have to spend them all to live now, I still won't be able to carry on with my job next year (and it's a really useful one providing a service that people need)

Really, how can everyone’s savings be checked? Maybe business accounts, but personal a/c’s spread across multiple institutions- no way. Far too time consuming and expensive. Speculation is just that, and fairly pointless.

I don't know, but they do for UC, don't they? So there must be some mechanism.