What do I ave to do legaly to employ my neice as carer? she wants to go self employed,

[lyn1954]

Do I have to do anything? or do I just give her a weekly wage and hope she pays her tax and Ins stamp? need help on this one, thanks'.

[johne1892]

Hi Lyn,
Firstly, your neice would need to register with HMRC as being self employed.

From that point onwards you pay her wages. At the end of the year she will fill in a self assessment form which will then say how much PAYE tax she will need to pay. Throughout the year she will pay her NI direct to HMRC.

My only bit of advice for her is to have a second bank acount where you put a percentage of her wage so she doesn't get a shock if she needs to pay tax at the end of the year.

Hope that helps?!?

[nannybooby]

agree withLynn ,however its best to have a seperate account for buisness /self employed wages as if the HMRC want to inspect the books they only look at the buisness content. She can se up dd's to pay her selfemployed nic monthly.

[lyn1954]

WOW...so I don't have to do anything but pay my Neice her wages. Thanks' for your replies.

[local-lass]

She will probably also need to get an Enhanced Disclosure, especially if you are getting financial assistance from your Local Authority.

[woofgang]

if you are paying her from a local authority self funded care scheme, they may have requirements about who you can employ, possibly things like insurance cover.

[New Judge]

The decision to “go self-employed” is not a straightforward arbitrary decision. HMRC has quite a strict set of guidelines to determine whether a person can be “self employed” or whether they should be employed by the person for whom they work.

You really need to consult HMRC for a definitive answer, but from the guidance issued by them a number of questions need to be answered. If the answer to all the following questions is “yes” then the person’s status is usually more properly self employed:

• Can they hire someone to do the work or engage helpers at their own expense?
• Do they risk their own money?
• Do they provide the main items of equipment they need to do their job, not just the small tools that many employees provide for themselves?
• Do they agree to do a job for a fixed price regardless of how long the job may take?
• Can they decide what work to do, how and when to do the work and where to provide the services?
• Do they regularly work for a number of different people?
• Do they have to correct unsatisfactory work in their own time and at their own expense?

It is unlikely that a “carer” working for a single person can answer “yes” to all or even any of these questions and you and your niece should seek HMRC guidance before going any further.

[tonywiltshire]

If your niece wishes to become self employed she needs to register with HMRC they may not accept she is self employed unless she is working for a minimum of two quite separate people or companies who should have no connection with each other. If she can show this to be the case, or she is actively seeking new customers, there should be no difficulty. She should submit an Invoice to you on a regular basis for work completed, if agreed you should pay the invoice within the agreed terms. I am assuming you are not thinking about Carer’s Allowance and your niece will not be registered for VAT, threshold £73,000.
HMRC have an advice team who are usually helpful.