I have a question. I think I already know the answer, but would appreciate some opinions.
My husband has recently left the army. He’s got a new job but it doesn’t start until late October, so in the meantime he’s doing bits and bobs to keep busy and bring some money in. We both already complete income tax returns as we have a rental property.
He’s spoken to a few different people who can offer him odd hours here and there. One is a self employed carpenter who can offer him occasional labouring hours. I can’t imagine the carpenter has a PAYE scheme set up. Another is a brewery who he did a days work for this week and they will have more work for him in the future. This is semi-skilled as they’re offering him the work due to him having experience in brewing, but a lot of what he’s doing is more general labouring. They have asked him to invoice them for his hours whenever he wants paying and they’ll pay him based on an hourly rate they have mutually agreed. The third is a pub who can offer him some shifts so this should be straightforward PAYE.
It’s clear that the brewery are wanting him to be self employed by them asking him to invoice them rather than complete a timesheet. I can appreciate that for the odd day here or there they probably don’t want the hassle of having a new “employee”, however obviously the HMRC test of employed vs self employed doesn’t take into account what would be more convenient. I can imagine that with a stretch of the imagination he could be self employed. He tells them when he’s available to work and the hours he can do. They seem to be happy to have him whenever he’s available. There’s no real tools of the trade for him to bring because he uses the fixed equipment at the brewery. It’s not the kind of job where you would bring your own fermenter! I think you could probably argue he would be able to substitute as they just need an extra body and if he sent his mate in instead, I can’t imagine they would mind (they’re very laid back). It’s very short term in nature because it will be the odd day here or there for a month or so until he’s employed in his new job (which is completely unrelated to the brewery).
If I didn’t do the job I do, then my husband would just do whatever they say and send an invoice in without question. He wouldn’t for one second stop to wonder if he’s employed of self employed. He obviously doesn’t want to be “difficult” and start insisting on PAYE and is happy to just add it onto his tax return as extra income. The income will probably be in the region of £300-400 in total so we’re not talking huge figures that HMRC are going to get their knickers in a twist about.
What would you do? Just leave him to invoice them his hours as requested, add it to his tax return at the end of the year and pay the extra tax or insist on them treating him as an employee?
