tax stuff

[Arch]

fossyant, cheers, yes, that's nice and clear.

Thanks Chris! I'd hope to earn more than £5225 in the primary job, as that would only just cover the rent. Although, you are correct, I'm not necessarily holding out for the best paid job, but for one that covers costs and is hopefully not mindnumbing...

So it isn't necessarily an issue of complication for either employer, to sort out the PAYE? I mean it's not something that would necessarily put someone off taking me on, that they had to sort it out or anything?

Of course, being a greenie, I'd rather live in a system where I bartered with turnips, but I gather turnips aren't taken by many high street shops...

 

[ChrisKH]

They have to operate PAYE by law Arch. If they pause and suck through their teeth you'd have to ask yourself whether they would be the best of employers......

Assuming you haven't had a job for a while and don't have a P45 you will be asked to complete form P46 on starting. If you answer the questions correctly on this form, you will get the correct tax code. Eventually.

 

[Arch]

They have to operate PAYE by law Arch. If they pause and suck through their teeth you'd have to ask yourself whether they would be the best of employers......

Oh cheers, of course, I hadn't thought of that!

 

[Speicher]

I read ChrisKH's excellent advice. Especially paragraph One.

It should not put off any prospective employer. They are given a tax code by the Tax Office (that they use) and using this code and other "charts", calculations etc they can work out the tax you should pay. It should not really cause them any extra problems.

The problems I had, relate to the deduction of National Insurance Contributions. I assume that one of your employments will pay you a weekly/monthly sum above the "lower threshold for National Insurance".

I cannot explain confidently enough, but you need to be careful that you pay National Insurance for something like 48 weeks out of 52 weeks each year. NI "years" start and finish in January, I think.

If you have as little a "gap" as two further weeks in a NI year, it can seriously "bugger up" your NI records. To cut a long story short, this means I cannot claim any benefits, nor am I classed as unemployed.
ChrisKH may be able to suggest who to ask for accurate details on this situation.

 

[rich p]

I'd make a hidden room in the back of a wardrobe and make loads of phony benefit claims. Apparently it's a very popular way of earning a living by older women these days

 

[ChrisKH]

I read ChrisKH's excellent advice. Especially paragraph One.

It should not put off any prospective employer. They are given a tax code by the Tax Office (that they use) and using this code and other "charts", calculations etc they can work out the tax you should pay. It should not really cause them any extra problems.

The problems I had, relate to the deduction of National Insurance Contributions. I assume that one of your employments will pay you a weekly/monthly sum above the "lower threshold for National Insurance".

I cannot explain confidently enough, but you need to be careful that you pay National Insurance for something like 48 weeks out of 52 weeks each year. NI "years" start and finish in January, I think.

If you have as little a "gap" as two further weeks in a NI year, it can seriously "bugger up" your NI records. To cut a long story short, this means I cannot claim any benefits, nor am I classed as unemployed.
ChrisKH may be able to suggest who to ask for accurate details on this situation.

The DSS in Newcastle will tell you if you have paid sufficient contributions in any one tax year (that or a qualified accountant in practice, which I am not any more, thank God) to protect your retirement pension or benefits. You can voluntarily back pay contributions for weeks, months or even years if you have not contributed for whatever reason and you want to qualify or protect your position. My wife did so when she was on maternity leave and the cost was relatively small.

 

[Dave5N]

I got in a muddle with tax and the IR were very unhelpful.

In the end I just handed it all over to an accountant and let him get on with it. He sorted everything out, squred the Revenue.

I was very shocked at the cost - it seemed incredibly cheap for what he did.

Not suggesting you need to/want to do this Arch, but a bit of expert advice can be helpful.

 

[Speicher]

The DSS in Newcastle will tell you if you have paid sufficient contributions in any one tax year (that or a qualified accountant in practice, which I am not any more, thank God) to protect your retirement pension or benefits. You can voluntarily back pay contributions for weeks, months or even years if you have not contributed for whatever reason and you want to qualify or protect your position. My wife did so when she was on maternity leave and the cost was relatively small.

The "gap" in my NI Contributions came to light some three or four years later, when I tried to claim Incapacity Benefit. You need two complete years out of the three proceeding years of any claim for benefit. I have now paid Voluntary Contributions for the "missing" weeks. Back paying in that way will only count towards a Retirement Pension, not benefits. I now receive National Insurance Credits each week. Ironically the gap occured because I accepted a Contracted post, when the three "as and when required" jobs started to get less busy. I did not think it would make sense to sign on as unemployed just for a few weeks. As I understand it, the NI Agency has just reduced the number of years of employment needed to qualify for the full retirement pension.

 

[bonj2]

If you become self employed, you may not end up paying less tax outright as a percentage of what you earn, but you can offset all and sundry as a business expense. Consider setting up Arch Consulting Ltd.

 

[Dave5N]

Or Bonj International Management Consultants plc

 

[ufkacbln]

Thieving scum!!


I got a nice letter on a Friday saying there was a mistake in my tax assessment and they owed me a 4 figure sum!


On Saturday morning I got another letter saying that they had recalculated my tax and I owed them....... almost the same4 figure sum.

But apparently it is all correct....

 

[Dave5N]

Yeah - tried to fine me £300 for late returns on an (alleged) debt of £1.80

Hence the Accountant!

 

[Rhythm Thief]

This is only my personal experience, but when I worked for two different driving agencies (one in Wolverhampton and one in Peterborough), I had to pay basic rate tax on the second job. They wouldn't allow me to "use" my tax code for more than one job at once, even though I was only earning the same as I would have been if I'd only had the one job.

 

[ChrisKH]

This is only my personal experience, but when I worked for two different driving agencies (one in Wolverhampton and one in Peterborough), I had to pay basic rate tax on the second job. They wouldn't allow me to "use" my tax code for more than one job at once, even though I was only earning the same as I would have been if I'd only had the one job.

It really does depend on what you are earning in both RT. From their perspective, say you were earning £10k from each job (and I hope it was more!) you can only use £5k approx personal allowances against one job which means you must have a BR code on the other. At the end of the year you probably have still paid the correct amount of tax. It just gets more complicated if you earn less than the allowance threshhold (£5,225 these days) or more than the higher rate tax limit (£34,600 + £5,225) in any one job. Or you have other taxable income (unlikely for most unless you are loaded).

God I hope I don't sound like Hector. BTW I was told recently that Hector the Inspector ('self-assessment doesn't need to be taxing') the little bowler hatted bloke in the Inland Revenue ads is no longer called Hector. Some bright spark realised what the literal translation of Hector was and decided it probably wasn't a good name in the circumstances. No shoot Sherlock.

 

[Dave5N]

wikipedia is truly a friend to the ignorant.