Registering as self employed during maternity leave

[Cupcakeaddict]

Hello,

I have just started maternity leave (baby isn't here yet) but I want to start my own business. I am on contractual mat pay for 4 months then SMP. I have a few questions, I hope someone can help:

1- I understand that becoming self employed won't affect my SMP, but do I need to wait until my contractual pay as ended?

2- I want to stay on mat leave for as long as possible before resigning, as I want to get as much holiday pay as I can. Will my employer be notified when I register for self assessment/NICs? I'd rather they didn't know I'm not planning on coming back just yet.

3- I have been doing free work to build a portfolio, but I have taken one paying client just before going on mat leave. Is this going to be a problem? I didn't think about this at the time! I have also bought equipment which I would like to claim as business assets, does it matter I bought it at the end of last year? Can I still claim it?

Thank you!

I'm not sure how helpful this will be as I have no real idea of the ins and outs of it but I went on mat leave in August 07 and became self employed in feb 08 I stayed on mat leave for the full 9 months plus a further 3 unpaid. I was told this wouldn't affect my mat pay and my employers didn't need to know about it. As far as I am aware you can be self employed and have another job, on mat leave or not.

I think you can only claim for expenses for that year ie April - April so you wouldn't be able to claim for any equipment purchased last year but I'm happy to be corrected on that

As far as I understand it, there is no problem with being both employed and self-employed - but this is based on my situation where my employment and my self-employment are in completely different fields; if you are looking to work self-employed in the same field as your current employment, that might an issue - you should check what your employment contract says in that respect.

I don't believe your employer knows if you register for self-assessment, but I may be wrong. You could be doing that for all sorts of reasons though, for example if you happen to rent out property, so I don't see how that would concern them.

Hope someone who knows more will come along soon.

Thanks ladies, that's very helpful. It's in totally different fields, so that's not an issue. I need to check my contract, I believe it says I'm not allowed to be employed by someone else, but it doesn't mention self employment.

I want to remain on their books for as long as possible for holiday pay and also because I'm getting childcare vouchers, which will be really useful once I start my self employment.

Do you know if it matters that I have already taken a client on? Will that affect SMP? When I self-register, shall I tell them to register from the date of this booking to include it?

Your self employment does not affect SMP at all.

You should register as self employed from the date you took on the paying client and you can claim the cost of the equipment as Annual Investment Allowance in the tax year you purchased it.