Pay tax for looking after FIL?

[Parentsinlaw]

DHs family want me to look after him - pay his bills, make sure he eats etc. they are offering to pay me £25ph for 2 hours a day, 4 days a week.
Do I need to declare this? I think if it’s a gift for helping out it’s not being employed as such?

Why would you do this??

Your FIL is going to get frailer and need increasing care.

You will naturally be the person everything falls to.

Dont do this to yourself, it will ruin your life.

Do you have any other source of income? You’ll need to declare it, but won’t pay any tax if you earn less than about £12k pa iirc

I'm with @ShibuyaScramble on this.

Just say no. You have your own life to lead.

Do you want to look after him ?

Yes, they’re paying you for your time and services - it’s clearly earnings.

A lump sum gift regardless of how many hours you do would be more defensible as a gift. But it’s not a gift when you’re expected to put in a fixed number of hours service to earn the gift.

“they are offering to pay me £25ph for 2 hours a day, 4 days a week.”

So what on earth is this, if not income? And sadly, the govt expects you to pay tax on it, as soon as you exceed the personal allowance. There’s no way you could explain it away as a gift, and there are limits on the amount that can be given as a cash gift in any year (£3,000) in any case, after which the gift is subject to inheritance tax, unless the donor lives for more than seven years, and as I assume your FIL would be paying you, there would be a very real likelihood he might not live that long. But I think that in your case, HMRC would regard the money paid as earnings.

First you need to decide whether you want to do this - if you're currently not working, have the time and could do with the money, it could work well. You'd be about £10k pa ahead of all the women who do this sort of thing for free, for a start.

However, if/when his needs change, will you want to continue. Do you and he get on? You mention helping him with meals and bills. Is what they want achievable in the time stated? Does he live close by? Are they asking to you wash and dress him and would you do this? Are you capable of doing the job? A professional carer could be more appropriate.

But this could be seen as one of two situations - the role is either similar to being a self employed cleaner or they're employing you as a carer - so you need to decide on this before working out how to declare the income. If you're self employed, which I don't think you are in this situation, you would need to register as such and submit a tax return, although you'd not pay tax if this was your only income.

However if they're employing you, they need to comply with employer's requirements, as they would if they paid for direct care rather than engaging the services of a care agency. This could include paying employer's NI, and also paid annual leave, although I suppose it's up to you to decide if you would enforce this. I'm sure there's advice online about responsibilities for employing someone to work in your home.

Either way, if you claim UC, you'd need to declare it as income.

Well yes you’d be expected to pay tax on it, assuming you’ll be declaring it. You’d have to do a tax return each year and pay the tax on it. I’m sure plenty of people don’t declare and are paid cash in hand but above board, it’s income and should be taxed in the same any income would be.

And youd be very foolish to do this.
Hope this helps.

The money makes YOU obligated.
It makes YOU the default dogs body for all caring at ALL hours.
The family will claim you "took thousands" and now wont do X...

Let them hire someone you need a Domiciliary carer which cost 20-35 ph. It'll cost a damn sight more than 8x25 per week.

Also....
If he needs help eating are you to be there more than once day? (Does 2 hrs include travel time?)
What happens the other 3 days if he needs daily care?

This will get messy quickly.. and be very stressful if you dont declare the tax. Tech is improving rapidly and they are looking to clamp down on this kind of thing

So it’d be about £5k per year? Do you have another income, if not just registered as self employed personsl assistant. You aren’t going to be paying tax and could nake NI contributions for your pension. If you are employed I’d see a bookkeeper and see what you can write off 45p a mile for errands. Have a home office you could write off the cost of that room so a proportion of your housing costs plus bills. Might find you wouldn’t have to pay much/ anything.

Do you have another job you pay tax on? If not you're well under the tax threshold on those hours so tax not applicable. If you have DC and get family allowance then your NICS will be covered so I wouldn't worry so long as you're happy to do it.

Yes you would be expected to declare if but if this is your only income you wouldn’t pay tax on it.

However I highly doubt it will be 2 hours four times a week. There will be other “little” things that pop up and I can guarantee you will be sitting keeping him company and you won’t get paid for it - because surely you want to spend time with him.

also if you are working why hasn’t your DH asked/offered to do this?

Without knowing if you are earning money from another source - paid job, pension, etc, no-one can say whether you would pay tax on that money ?

You usually have a personal allowance of £12,500 that you can receive before tax has to be paid - therefore if it is your only income - then no you would not be expected to pay tax on that money - though it would be wise to declare it and set up a self assessment on HMRC so that the money is accounted for.

If FIL claims attendance allowance

You can claim carers allowance, which is a small amount
However, importantly your National Insurance contributions will be paid towards your state pension & other benefits.
You can also work part time & earn up to £196 per week & still claim carers allowance.
National Insurance protects your future.

If they pay you, your National Insurance contributions will not be paid.

https://www.gov.uk/carers-allowance

What happens when you want a holiday, sickness or go out for a day ?

Two hours a day. Is that one visit or two visits of an hour each? How far away does he live, and how long will it take you to get there and back each time?

What exactly does he need - hoovering, laundry, cooking, shopping, paying bills (and if you are doing that, who's using whose bank account?), taking to the doctor, hospital visits (and bear in mind a visit to the hospital can take up more than two hours, and will he need personal care?

I've got to be totally honest here - don't do it. Just don't. You will be expected to take on more and more as time goes on and his needs increase, and your family will happily wash their hands of the whole thing because, well, you're doing it, aren't you?

DH's family, eh? Why don't they want to do it, and what's your DH's view on this? Was it his idea or theirs?

Thanks all. Realised I’m a bit grumpy and have written a rant so I’ve deleted it!