what kind of professional can help me?

[fluffles]

i'm thinking of doing a mixture of paye and self-employed work in the near future.

i know that there is lots of info online about regsitering as self-employed and about paying NI etc. but none seems to take into account that i might be earning paye at the same time, and more paye than self-employed to begin with.

i don't want to double-pay NI.. and i'm unsure about the law about self-employment regarding clients (seem to have the impression that you're not s-e unless you have more than one client but if i also have a paye job i may only have time to work for one client at a time self-employed).

anyway, it's complicated so i'd like some face-to-face advice but i don't know who to ask...

a tax adviser?
small business adviser?
some kind of government advice body??
somebody else??

i'm really confused and would appreciate face-to-face advice rather than trying to sort out all the info online and hoping for the best... thanks.

you need to get your s/e status clarified -if as you say you may only be doing work for one client at a time, it's possible you could actually be employed by them.

However, if you are both employed and s/employed, then sadly, yes, you will have to pay both lots of NI (depending on employed income levels, under £475 or so a month doesn't qualify for NI contributions to be paid). Also, if your s/e income is less than approx £5k, you can apply for an exemption. NI guidance is www.hmrc.gov.uk/ni/intro/basics.htm.

The employed vs s/e criteria are here via this tool, and you can ring them up and check your specific situation with a person rather than a one size fits almost all HMRC calculator. Helpline no is 0845 915 4515

TBH it's probably not worth your while paying someone (accountant or tax advisor) just to sort this out, but it's the kind of thing which I would be including in a first years fee for a new client. HMRC aren't as scary as you think when you ring up . Make sure you get the name of the person you speak to though.

HTH

Have a look at this

cgi3.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=talkinpeace
I'm biased as you can guess but its been checked by many others.
I dont "do" private questions but check in here most days

hope that helps

Ishallwearmidnight - what do you do? when you say 'first years fee for a new client'.. are you oan accountant?

the reason i want to do a bit of s-e work is that in my sector everybody currently has a recruitment freeze but there are a lot of pieces of work out there needing done. so for political reasons nobody will be able to employ me but will take me as a consultant (i'm talking here about pieces of work ranging from 1day to about 10days which would be too short for a fixed term contract)

in the first instance i may be offered an extension on my current contract for up to two months which i intend to only accept if it can be 28-30hrs to give me a free day for other job hunting.. in the long run i'm seeing a lot of 2-3day posts (again funding constraints) so would like one of them and make up the income as a consultant in the other days.

i have already been told by a number of potential clients that they'd have a use for me and my skills/experience.

TalkinPeace2 - your link doesn't work

ge&userid=talkinpeace
or google talkinpeace

ge&userid=talkinpeace
tired

duh c&p not working

look on ebay under talkinpeace
its been there for years

thank you i found it

lots of that is relevant to me despite me not dealing in 'goods' so thank you. i'm going to print it and add to my file on starting my business... i think i'm starting to get a little bit excited about my impending redundancy..