Can I freelance whilst on maternity leave? Do I have to register as self-employed & declare tax etc.?

[WhatsupDoc]

My long plan is to give up work in the next few years and go freelance. In the meantime, I'm on maternity leave from a public sector employer. My employer is happy for me to freelance as no conflict of interest.

Do I have to register as self employed and pay tax etc?

At the moment I am doing about 2hrs a week, but being paid for in kind rather than actual money. I would quite like to start exploring other options and get paid real money, but I don't know the legalities involved.

Anyone know?

Thanks!

It's best to register as self-employed - if you don't earn much you won't have to pay much tax on it. It's pretty easy to register - try the HMRC website.

AFAIK even being paid 'in kind' is taxable, so yes you have to register

now the way I understand it is:

• if you are receiving MA then you can only work 10 days during your mat. period
• if you are receiving SMP then you can work as much as you like during your mat. period

I'm happy to accept correction!

Goodness, is that really true about SMP and working as much as you like? How unfair if you can only work 10 days while on MA. Hmph.

I don't think you can do any paid work whilst on ML or it'll stop

I asked on here whilst I was on ML and was told that, well it confirmed what i had already thought.

The 10 day thing also applies to ML, keep in tough days I think they're called. My boss was delighted about them, I was not so pleased

toch, keep in touch days, not tough [idiot]

Thanks for this,

What is MA? (assume I must not be on it, otherwise I would know what it is)!

Not really sure what I'm on. Public sector employee, so bells and whistles on maternity pay - part SMP and a chunk which they top up

SMP, statutory maternity pay, this is what you receive as an employee

MA, maternity allowance, this is what you get if you are self employed.

Yes, self-employed work is exempt from restrictions during SMP.

Thanks for the info everyone.

I looked into this when I became pregnant and was told by the Tax people that you could not work whilst on maternity leave. The official reason I was given is that SMP and MA are considered a benefit. Even though you employer pays SMP - they will still claim it back from the government.

Therefore, it would be like working and claiming benefits.

Hope this helps. Good luck whatever you end up doing.

Thought I had better add that this was the situation a few years ago - so it may be best to check direct with the tax office, as things may have changed.

I work in Local Government and am 28 weeks with my dc3.

On the form I filled in to give notice of maternity absence it says I must tell my employer if:

1)Go abroad outside the European community.
2)Get taken into legal custody.
3)Work after the birth of the child for another employer who you were not working for in the 15th week before your EWC.

So perhaps worth checking out re number 3 - although this isn't the same as being self-employed.

HTH

I have a part-time PAYE job and am registered self-employed for freelance work. When I went on ML, the advice I got from the tax people was that I could get SMP from my employer and still work as a freelance (and pay tax on those earnings as a self-employed person). If I had claimed maternity allowance, I wouldn't have been allowed to work freelance. Or rather, I could have worked, but the allowance would have stopped. It sounds a bit complicated, but basically if you register as self-employed (which you should anyway as a freelancer), you can keep that tax situation separate from your PAYE public sector job. Hope that makes sense!