Help with Freelance and Staturory Maternity Pay

[Motg82]

Can any clever people give me some advice re SMP and being freenlance.
I was employed by a company until October 2015. I had a baby in Oct 2014, so the last year of this employment was maternity leave. However during my employment for this firm I did the occasional freelance job which I declared and paid tax on.

I left to go freelance in Oct 2015 and set up a limited company with my partner (he puts his small freelance earnings through the company). I had another baby in June 2016 and am trying to get SMP through the government.

Because I haven't yet done any self assessment our company I haven't paid any national insurance yet.

I have 2 questions:

1. Should I register as self-employed individual (separate to the company) to get SMP
2. If not do you know if you have a limited company you can still be ligable for SMP? Or is it up to our "company" (ie. me, to pay my own maternity)

Hope that makes sense!

As a company director, are you paying yourself anything from the business? As a company director you are an employee of the business, so I think you would base entitlement to SMP on your pay/drawings from the company.

Complex though, as with a small company, if a director is off work then there may be no money coming into the business, so no funds from which to provide SMP or dividend payments.

You need to talk to your accountant as you can talk to them about your specific situation. Small companies can reclaim cost of SMP, so if you are a director employed through a limited company, claiming SMP may be viable... but do talk to your accountant.

Also look at Maternity Allowance. This is what Government offers to those who do not qualify for SMP.