EEA2 - employed / self employed - advice for filling form

[sensiblejunglist]

Hi everyone

I'm applying for an EEA2 and would be grateful for some advice on filling the form.

background:

Me: singapore citizen, holding EEA Fam permit valid till Feb 2009

My wife: French, working in London

My wife excercises her EU treaty rights by working casually for an official company (category: employment) and freelancing via a media / creative agency (category: self-employment)

Her balance of hours between these jobs / categories varies from week to week. At the moment, most of her money seems to be from freelancing.

My questions are:

1. With regards to filling in the EEA2 form, which category should I put her in as? Should I do both, then write a note saying these combine to give her monthly income?

I also predict that the 6 month wait (or longer) for EEA2 processing means her categories / employers might have changed again by the time they get round to seeing our application.

2. Her self-employment status is still quite new, in other words she is still setting herself up and does not yet have all her tax bits. This is what she has so far, is it enough for sending the EEA forms now?

* National Insurance card

* Government Gateway letter saying "thank you for registering with Government Gateway for Self Assessment Online"

* HMRC National Insurance Contributions documents
for N.I. amounts due July 2008
and another for April 2008

* HMRC Self Assessment Paper Tax Return Reminder
stating she needs to pay her tax return by 31 Oct via paper, or 31 Jan 2009 via the online system
(she is doing it online!)

* Housing Contract (her official "address" for self employment)

* Household bills (electricity, internet, council tax, gas, water, mobile)

* Freelance Sub Contractor contract (with her Media Agency)
confirming she is self-employed and pays her own National Insurance contributions

The Self employed category seems to be quite a minefield, requiring many documents (my wife and I are not very organised with paperwork!)

Very grateful for your advice!

[sensiblejunglist]

an additional question:

if she is self employed, is it absolutely necessaru to have an accountant's letter?

(she is a sole trader, and doing most of her tax stuff online anyway)

thank you again

[thsths]

My wife excercises her EU treaty rights by working casually for an official company (category: employment) and freelancing via a media / creative agency (category: self-employment)

I guess you should go with the higher income over the past 3 months. If that looks low, make sure that you point out the other income, too. And if you with freelancing, you should always mention that she is also employed, for health insurance reasons.

I also predict that the 6 month wait (or longer) for EEA2 processing means her categories / employers might have changed again by the time they get round to seeing our application.

No reason to worry. The application is decided based on the evidence submitted with the application. Later changes are not relevant according to the law.

* Freelance Sub Contractor contract (with her Media Agency)
confirming she is self-employed and pays her own National Insurance contributions

That is good, and she should have registered a business (although I am not sure that is strictly necessary).

The Self employed category seems to be quite a minefield, requiring many documents (my wife and I are not very organised with paperwork!)

That would be a problem. Maybe you should get someone to do the paperwork?

[republique]

The Self employed category seems to be quite a minefield, requiring many documents (my wife and I are not very organised with paperwork!)

That would be a problem. Maybe you should get someone to do the paperwork?

Umm yeah, if you are self employed you need to be organized. Thats pretty scary.