UTR Number for 17 year old labourer

[everybodylookatyourhands]

Hi

Hopefully someone will be able to offer some advice. My son has been looking for work over the summer holidays whilst he is off of college. Retail jobs seem to be very difficult to come by where we are. He put an ad of Facebook for work and was given some labouring work this week. The builder/business owner will pay him into his bank account going forward but he has told my son he needs a UTR number. Is this a case of registering as a sole trader on HMRC? Are there any considerations he needs to make before doing this? I.e. as he is not being employed by builder, will he need to consider insurance (for himself or public liability). Is there anything else we need to be mindful of?

Thank you!

Can he just register for self assessment for now?

https://www.gov.uk/find-utr-number

btw is the employer trying to dodge their responsibilities? Like paying NI contributions, pension.

@FloraBotticelli* *Thank you for your response. To be honest I really don't know but I am thinking not as he said he wanted to pay my son into his bank account. I thought if they were trying to avoid those things he'd pay him cash in hand. The boss seemed quite firm it had to be into an account and a UTR is required. Having never had to have a UTR I had a quick look and thought he'd have to register as a sole trader. Glad I asked on here as I think he will just need to register for self assessment now - I'll take a look. Thanks very much for your help!

Sorry, for registering for self assessment would he need to say he is self employed as that then directs to setting up a business

If he’s becoming a labourer he will also
need to apply for CIS, this is where the builder will stop CIS tax and your son will need to claim it back on his self assessment. I was speaking to someone today who is waiting for their UTR CIS to go through and it’s around a 6 weeks wait. Until it’s gone through the builder will deduct 30% CIS tax instead of the normal 20% CIS tax.

Ok looks like I need to do some research then as this isn’t as simple as I thought it would be. He is actually training to be an electrician but only doing labouring over the summer, so not a permanent job. I’ll take a look at CIS tax too. Thank you so much. Anything else you think I need to know?

Here's the official info from GOV.UK about how to register as a subcontractor with the Construction Industry Scheme.

There are so many labourers and tradespeople working in construction on a self-employed basis that they have this special scheme to deal with what would otherwise be dealt with via PAYE

https://www.gov.uk/what-you-must-do-as-a-cis-subcontractor/how-to-register

Almost certainly CIS!

DS is 18 and has been labouring for small construction firms this year before he goes to uni in September. He registered with CIS as already mentioned and will have to do self assessment. I do SA myself as I'm freelance, it's quite straightforward. It did take a while for his CIS number to come through iirc, six weeks sounds about right.

Also if he's labouring, make sure that the site he's working on gives him the right PPE, masks, ear defenders etc. DS bought himself work boots from Screwfix and some gloves, but everything else was supplied by his employers.

Thank you so much everyone! So helpful