Becoming Self Employed - Any Advice?
 

I've been offered in instructors position with lots of flying but on the basis that I am self-employed.

Anyone out there know what the procedure is, whether you are better off or not, and perhaps where to go for help.

I already tried my local tax office and got the telephone equivalent of a blank stare!

As so many pilots seem financially clued up I'm sure someone must know!

Thanks folks!

If it's your sole source of employment, the employer is on slightly dodgy ground, but if the pay is ok for you and the operations fairly legit, then thats nothing for you to worry about; (potentially you could claim you thought the income was net and invite the IR to extract the tax from the employer retrospectively, and not from you; not that I necessarily recommend it!).

All you have to do is produce invoices for the school, and the self assessment form becomes a bit more of a headache.

Like Sick says you will run into trouble if the tax man finds you are only working for one company. In other 'trades' this is catered for ie building industry (SE 60 I think is the form employers use).

That said I can name you lots of flying instructors who have worked for one company for years and no one has caught up with them. Im freelance and have been for the last 5 years, however I do work for several companies and have also instructed on a self employed basis.

If you can get the school to agree to it you could invoice the odd student directly for your time once in a while just so you have more than one customer in your accounts.

At the end of the day talk to an accountant about it.

I wish you luck with it, I can think of no other profession where an individual puts so much into getting qualified for so little return. Bring back the old PPL instructor route I say before the training world colapses! ;)

[This message has been edited by Fly Better! (edited 19 April 2001).]

Thanks guys!
The pay is worth it - and so are the hours. I think I should be able to show different invoices, so avoiding the one employer problem.

All I have to do is find a cheap accountant to tell me what I can claim for - everything hopefully.

you need to talk to an accountant before you start. I was an instructor during 1995/96 in addition to other employment, just last week the National insurance contributions office have come back to me looking for £8+ per week for the full two years I did instructing ( even for months when I earned nothing from instructing) I had always done my tax return and paid my debts promptly so this bill is a bit of a shock. Since you will probably have to pay similiar you need some sort of retainer for turning up, unfortunately I didn't.

Self employment is a minefield for anybody who is low paid. The sad fact is that if you become self employed, you have restricted access to certain benefits like unemployment benefit if your source of income fails ie no students or bad weather! You must also pay your own National Insurance Contributions (Self Employed Stamp) If you are working for one employer, you are employed not self employed and it is possible that sometime in the future the IR may determine that you are actually employed rather than self employed with all the complications that that will cause to both employer and you. Why is your prospective employer looking to take you on on a self employed basis? Maybe he/she want's to pay you below the minimum wage, maybe he/she doesn't want to pay you when you are sick, for holidays or Bank Holidays, maybe he/she just want's to treat you like a dog and throw you a few scraps just to keep you from starving! On the plus side, it is possible to claim for many things against income tax including your car (excluding home to place of work travel)

The advantage of self employment is to that you can chose to work for more than one employer and possibly increase your earnings potential.

If you are not able to sort out your own book-keeping, you may well expect an accountants bill of around £500 for the year. Get a quotation before employing one on a send me a bill at the end basis!

Think hard and good luck!