When should I register? New to HMRC
Thread poster: Andrea Piancastelli
Andrea Piancastelli
Andrea Piancastelli  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
English to Italian
+ ...
Oct 22, 2016

Hello,
I would like to start working as a freelance translator and I have just got in touch with a couple of agencies (no work yet). I'm Italian and over the last 3 years I have been living in the UK and now I am in Italy, but willing to move back. I am still British resident, and have intention to register with HMRC.

My wander is when should I register? I am faithful to get profit from this activity, but may I wait to check if it works before registering?

Also
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Hello,
I would like to start working as a freelance translator and I have just got in touch with a couple of agencies (no work yet). I'm Italian and over the last 3 years I have been living in the UK and now I am in Italy, but willing to move back. I am still British resident, and have intention to register with HMRC.

My wander is when should I register? I am faithful to get profit from this activity, but may I wait to check if it works before registering?

Also, I'm planning to work as a UK-based freelancer while traveling, so do you think it's still possible to register with HMRC. If they send regular post mail I may incur in some fine in case I'm not at home. Do you know if they also have some kind of email communication option?

Thank you in advance for helping me realise a dream (maybe!)
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Nikki Graham
Nikki Graham  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:30
Spanish to English
A bit of help to get the ball rolling Oct 25, 2016

I think you should register before you start work. You don't need to pay a fixed fee to be self-employed in the UK; you just pay tax on your earnings if they go above the minimum threshold (not sure how much that is, but the HMRC website has a lot of useful information).
HMRC also has rules about how many days you need to be in the UK for in the tax year to be considered a resident, so trave
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I think you should register before you start work. You don't need to pay a fixed fee to be self-employed in the UK; you just pay tax on your earnings if they go above the minimum threshold (not sure how much that is, but the HMRC website has a lot of useful information).
HMRC also has rules about how many days you need to be in the UK for in the tax year to be considered a resident, so travelling all the time is not possible.
https://www.gov.uk/tax-foreign-income/residence
Once you sign up, you can register for the government gateway and then you can file your tax returns online and receive email notifications. No need to worry about missing the post. Although saying that, I'm not certain they send everything relevant by email.
HTH
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Andrea Piancastelli
Andrea Piancastelli  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
English to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
A bit of help to get the ball rolling Oct 27, 2016

Thank you very much for the useful information Nikki! I'm getting deeper into these themes now

 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:30
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Very important Oct 29, 2016

Andrea Piancastelli wrote:

Thank you very much for the useful information Nikki! I'm getting deeper into these themes now



To avoid future problems it is very important to establish your tax position on the correct footing and to institute a system of book-keeping so that your accounts are all organised in a way that the Tax Inspector would recognise, should you ever be investigated.

I suggest you look for a suitable accountant in the UK, near where you live and preferably a small practitioner rather than a big firm. This would just be for the first 2-3 years until you learn how to do it all yourself.

Be careful about Brexit before you move to the UK. At present nobody knows what is going to happen - including the British government.

[Edited at 2016-10-29 11:06 GMT]


 
Maggie WAKEFIELD
Maggie WAKEFIELD  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 12:30
French to English
+ ...
Link to HMRC website for registering self-employed Oct 30, 2016

https://www.gov.uk/working-for-yourself/overview

And as others have said - check out HMRC's statutory residence test and keep a count of your working days inside and outside the UK, stay tuned in to Brexit negotiations to avoid any nasty shocks, and consider using an accountant for the first couple of years. UK accountants are relatively affordable and can save you money by m
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https://www.gov.uk/working-for-yourself/overview

And as others have said - check out HMRC's statutory residence test and keep a count of your working days inside and outside the UK, stay tuned in to Brexit negotiations to avoid any nasty shocks, and consider using an accountant for the first couple of years. UK accountants are relatively affordable and can save you money by making sure you claim everything you're entitled to claim.
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Andrea Piancastelli
Andrea Piancastelli  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
English to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
RE Nov 12, 2016

Thank you very much for the useful tips!

 


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When should I register? New to HMRC






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