What does being self-employed mean?
If you’re self-employed in the UK you are responsible for your own tax and National Insurance contributions. This means: • You must register as self-employed with HMRC if you haven’t already done so • You must file a self-assessment tax return each year and declare all your income to your Inland Revenue office. The tax office will normally send you a self-assessment tax return each year in order to do this. You must tell them about all your income in any tax year – even if you are not sent a tax return for that year • You must pay all necessary tax in any tax year • You must pay Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance contributions Being self-employed also affects the benefits you can claim, your rights to things such as maternity leave or redundancy payments, and your liability to the public for the work you do for them.
