Previous employer hostile. How to get self-employed quickly

[sts96508]

Hi All,

I am a salaried employee in the UK since last 7 months and will be applying for extension of T1 in early Feb next year. Was planning on claiming previous earnings for my current and previous job which was overseas. Three months' salary was earned overseas and I need this to make the points. Problem is, I spoke to the HR people of my overseas employer about verification by UK BA Home Office and they have flatly refused to verify salary details. I have attested payslips for the three months in question.

I have read about atleast one similar situation in this forum where such 'inconclusive' verification of overseas earnings led to rejection.

As a safeguard against this I want to earn a further 2.5K gbp via self-employment before I apply in Feb so I still make the cut in the event that my overseas earnings are not considered.

Can someone please guide me with how to go about getting self-employed quickly, all the formalities, documents and the time it takes to get everything ready on average. I only have one calendar month to complete everything. I plan to provide IT training and build websites to earn the money.

Thanks in advance.

S

[canon123]

get registerd with HMRC that you are self employed... they will send you a letter with UTR ref no... provide your services, invoice your clients and goto accoutant to give you a letter, P&L accounts etc which lot of accountants in this forum can guide you on... dont worry If I were you, I will call HMRC now and register myself as self employed..

[canon123]

it is very easy.. first register with HMRC

[sts96508]

thanks for the quick reply. I will call them first thing tomorrow morning and register asap.

any idea how long it takes on average to complete registration and other paperwork ?

[John]

Slow down a bit! First have a good read of this HMRC webpage and its links.

By the way, what will your business actually be doing?

[sts96508]

Thanks John!

I hope to get paid for giving out IT training and by building websites.
Most likely these will be for customers in India who will pay into my paypal account.

[John]

Hopefully you dug down and found Registering for Self Assessment and National Insurance contributions if you are a self-employed sole trader, where you can register online, and save yourself the bother of phoning HMRC tomorrow.

[sts96508]

Thats really helpful John, thanks a ton! Just reached home and about to start digging.

[sts96508]

I filled up and submitted the online form for Registering for Self Assessment and NI contribution. After submitting the form I was told my details have been sent to HMRC, but was not provided with any reference/tracking number which I could use to follow up on the progress of my UTR number generation.

When should I expect the UTR number ? I have half a mind to call them to check if my request is being processed.

[canon123]

will get it by post in a couple of wks

[AccountantMatthew]

Just to second what canon123 says - you will be notified by post. There is no method for tracking how the process is coming along. I'd give it a good couple of weeks before calling given that you applied over a period containing a number of bank holidays. The number to call will be on their website.

[sts96508]

Thanks Matthew. Having done more research about going the self-employment route to bolster earnings, I am undecided right now, given the fact that I only have under five weeks to get everything sorted, including finding clients willing to part with the moolah on such short notice

I am focussing my efforts on getting my previous employer in India to verify my salary, and looking beyond UK/T1 if push comes to shove!