starting a company

[Thunderchild]

well it goes like this, I live in Italy and will be moving back to england in a few weeks (i was born in england but have a few italian relatives here). Now I have taken up photography as a hobby and am interested in trying to make some money of it, obviously I can't just start up as a photographer flat out as it would be a failure but i could get a job and start it on the side and wait till it takes off, now basically I don't want to be in the rut of doing things illegally on the side and have to keep hush hust about it i don't mind doing it quite legally and paying taxes but I can't fork out a lot of money up front what are my options ? I just want to be able to say I earnt 10 quid doing this for a friend and heres the 1.7 quid for the government...

[Hawkwalk]

all the info you need here.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefit s/Taxes/BeginnersGuideToTax/DG_4015566

[Thunderchild]

ok thanks that looks useful I was really worried thought because my dad (that is unemployed) said that if he tried tostart up in business for himself before even doing any work he would loose his benefits like the government seem to think we can survive on 2 hours work a week anyway I'll give that a read

[Thunderchild]

ok so basically I do have to work under a company name to be able to regularly file income tax or can I declare my earnings and pay tax as an individual with no company at all ?

[Hawkwalk]

you can just class yourself as self employed, no need for a company name. Just give your local tax office a call and they will be able to explain in more detail.

[Thunderchild]

ok thanks