Any lone parent nail techs on Working Tax Credits?

[katehenry]

i have spent the last 6 months training and raising funds for tools etc to be able to work as a self employed nail technician around my 2 kids .. the plan was to practise for few months then launch the business in the new year

however, my life and plans were turned upside down cpl weeks ago when my husband left me for another woman. after the initial shock and anger and im now taking stock of my situation and have managed to secure accommodation for my children and am waiting for all the various benefits im entitled to kick in

i assumed when i went onto benefits id no longer be able to realise my dream of working for myself
then a friend who called by yesturday to offer support and mentioned i should have applied for working tax credit instead of income support so that i can still launch my business in the new year .. excitedly i phoned up the local benefits office, but no appointments for another 2 weeks!

i just wondered if there were any lone parent business owners on here, who were managing to run successful businesses on working tax, also can i claim housing benefit and council tax benefit as it will take a while to establish myself .. just wondered how it all worked do they take your whole earnings into consideration inc set up costs, products for each job or just what you pay yourself .. i understand you have to work 16+ hours, but what if you dont one week .. is it averaged out over the month? can non paid work be counted towards the 16 hrs ie. marketing, practising, putting website together, sorting kit out etc

any advise or pointer in right direction would be really welcome, my kids and the hope that i can one day run my own little business is all i have to hold onto in the dark days ahead ...

 

[bobbyrazz]

You cant claim working tax until you are actually working. Id recommend ringing them direct for advice rather than waiting for ypur benefits office. You can claim housing and council tax benefit too, but they will ask you to take your accounts in every so often. You vcertainly wont be left with nothing once you start your business. HTH xx

 

[natalie3344]

I'm just coming off benefits to start up my business! I am a single parent and have a son who is 3! If you register as self employed and then contact working tax credits it should take a couple of weeks to start payments, but if you are already on benefits it will be much quicker to set wtc up! With working 16 hrs pw, everything you do for your business is considered working, updating your website, research, leafleting, etc.
You will still be entitled to hb and ct benefits because you will be on a low income (presumably). Hth and good luck with everything x

 

[WAX inc]

I opened my salon 10 years ago. I was on benefits at the time as my husband walked out, I had 3 children, youngest 8 months old ,i got a bank loan to start up ( i know thats impossible now) DHSS were fantastic, i was allowed income support for 4 weeks after i had opened then they changed it to tax credits for me. You don't tell them how many clients you have done, you tell them how many hours you have done including all aspects of the business even if that's dropping leaflets do I was putting in about 60 hours a week with Internet searching etc. You will have to estimate your earnings as you won't know untill you have been open a year. Go for it, they were fantastic to me.

 

[pure]

I'm self employed and claim single parent WTC - in the beginning you have to give an estimate of what you're going to earn weekly, make sure you deduct ALL expenses from that figure, and they average it out over the tax year. Depending on your earnings you can certainly claim council tax and housing benefit. You will also get free prescriptions, dental and optical care too.

When I first claimed I was unsure of what hours to put but was advised to claim for the maximum 30+ hours pw as we spend alot of time working for the business even when not with clients, sourcing supplies, bookkeeping, training etc

You can claim WTC from the first day you take payment for services, and even if you are not actually making any profit to start with, which is unlikely anyway, you will be better off than on income support.

Good luck with everything, I know you have found yourself in this difficult position under horrible circumstances but look to building a happy, successful future for yourself and your children - it can be done! :hug:

 

[RebeccaQ]

Hi, my husband left me for another woman while I was pregnant with our 4th child. All the advice I would have given has been said. I get WFTC, help with hb and ct. Definitely give the WTC and your local council a call so you know exactly where you stand.

Good luck, things will get easier :hug: xx

 

[katehenry]

thank you everyone, made me feel so much better already
put so much into my training etc, and even had business logo designed thought it was for nothing
so does anyone know what is classed as low income, im assuming there is a limit to what you can earn before they take the benefit away .. not that i supposed ill need to worry about that for a while!! do they just reduce the WTC as you earn more?
so should i dig out all my receipts from products ive bought over the last 6 mths or wont they count now? also does anyone know if cost of my training counts, have done mostly cnd classes

 

[souz]

sorry to hear but there are lots of us who have been in the same boat and can offer help.....

first still carry on with claiming income support, do not go onto tax credits until you are actually starting to advertise and work....having said that if you have been on income support for 6 months you can get extra help with going sef employed (you may want to think about delaying when you launch your business!)...you can get a weekly tax free sum to help when you are starting out as well as help to a uniform etc i think.

once you are ready, contact tax credits and explain that you will be working approx 16 hours a week to start and that it may go up and you will contact them if you do. as said everything counts towards working from accounts, ordering, setting up, clearing away, record keeping, advertising, updating a website etc


keep records of everything as they will want to see, set yourself a simple spreadsheet to keep track of spending and takings, this will also be used for your end of year accounts.

you will be ablt to claim housing benefit and council tax especially at the beginning when you wont be earning as much but obviously the more you earn the less help you get. check out a website called "entitled to", it is anonymous, no personal details just income ane benefits you are on and it will tell you if there is anything else you can claim or a rough estimate of tax credits you will get once you come off income support

hth xxx

 

[Becki2003]

Hi. I'm not a parent but my husband did leave me for another woman and destroyed my career (that's a whole other thread) so I ended up having a career change to beauty. I set up my own business and I claim working tax credits and housing and council tax benefit. I had to guesstimate my earnings for year 1 and then submit my profit/loss statement in April. I've been on benefits over a year now as I still earn under the threshold. It is possible and well done to you for picking your life up xx

 

[katehenry]

thank you for all your replies, its really encouraging .. feel so much more positive now about it all, and to think i thought that was the end of any chance i had to earn my own income!

when you say i should guestimate what i would earn, is it in my best interest to pay myseld minimum wage? or doesnt it matter as dont go over yearly threshold - was thinking paying myself little more than what i earnt in the pt time job i was forced to give up because no more childcare - so approx £10 an hr

also can i still do the massage course at college had been planning next year, or are you not allowed to be a student and work also to claim WTC - would only be one day a week, hopefully if still able to do might be able to get some help towards it

thanks everyone, youve given me lots food for though .. things looking brighter now

 

[Bonkers]

There's a website called entitled to
You can put all details in there of approximate earning etc to Jove you an idea of what you are entitled to

 

[angelardn]

You are entitled to child tax credit wether you are working or not. Phone the tax credit helpline and they will help you with your claim x

 

[Becki2003]

If you are a sole trader the tax man will deem anything you bring in as income. So when you guesstimate basically work out how much you are likely to bring in and how much you are likely to spend on your business (income/expediture) The difference is what you will pay tax on (or not if it's under the earning threshold) as it will be classed is your income, regardless of whether you take it out or leave it in the business. I'm sorry I don't think I'm explaining it very well xx

 

[katehenry]

hi thanks becki
i think i understand what you mean .. so if for arguments sakes my goal was to do 10 sets of minx a month @ £25 throughout the year, my guestimate would be £3000 then i would have to produce 2 lists and possibly receipts - one with products, insurance, advertising etc the other what i actually pay myself?
what happens if you go below or over the guesstimate? do they just adjust your money accordingly, i read somewhere threshold is 10k is that correct?

 

[Becki2003]

No if you were to bring in £3000 for the year your profit and loss statement would show income @£3000 then insurance for the year, products, training, uniform, laundry, and pretty much any thing else your business need spending on it. Anything else is what the tax man calls profit, or loss if you have paid out more than you've made. You are a sole trader so therefore don't get a wage. Extra money after expenditure is classed as your wage regardless of whether you take it out of the business or not. If you make a loss then working tax credits and housing etc class your income as £0. They do not recognise minus figures. When you register as self employed, the hmrc offer courses on how it all works. What you can claim tax relief on, what is earnings etc. it might be an idea to book yourself on one of those courses. I'm struggling to explain. Sorry xx

 

[Macoroni]

You can go on hmrc website under tax credits you can then put in what you are earning and it goes thru everything you can claim foe as in council tax housing benefit child care etc then call tax credits to ascertain exactly what threshold is I think this year it is 12k. It is fairly easy to work out any questions just pm me xx

 

[katie-robinson]

Hi guys.
this is a great thread and i have found it very useful.

I have been asked by my council to take in proof of earnings. obviously just starting out self employed i do not have any proof.. i dont have any clients either yet soo im going to have to guesstimate like suggested in other replies.
when i do this how do i lay it out. do i do it within an excel sheet?
so columns with number of clients, Income, outgoings, total?

hope someone can help please xxx

 

[eternalscot]

I think the days of the government subsidising failing businesses will be over when universal credit comes in. Apparently you have to make the minimal wages after expenses for each hour earned and so on. As a single parent from birth (although I was financially very secure before baby came) I do understand that people want to get back in the work place but I object to subsidising other people's often failing business, not because I'm jealous of their ample benefits but because it effects how much I can charge to make a good living as the benefit subsidised beauty business can charge less than me with a mortgage, high council tax, full price child care and so on. It does make it unfair especially a lot of these business deal purely in cash in hand so is hardly a level playing field. So your working tax might even be universal credit now according to official time lines so it is worth checking if you should really doing another job until your business takes off.

 

[hazeleyes]

i have spent the last 6 months training and raising funds for tools etc to be able to work as a self employed nail technician around my 2 kids .. the plan was to practise for few months then launch the business in the new year

however, my life and plans were turned upside down cpl weeks ago when my husband left me for another woman. after the initial shock and anger and im now taking stock of my situation and have managed to secure accommodation for my children and am waiting for all the various benefits im entitled to kick in

i assumed when i went onto benefits id no longer be able to realise my dream of working for myself
then a friend who called by yesturday to offer support and mentioned i should have applied for working tax credit instead of income support so that i can still launch my business in the new year .. excitedly i phoned up the local benefits office, but no appointments for another 2 weeks!

i just wondered if there were any lone parent business owners on here, who were managing to run successful businesses on working tax, also can i claim housing benefit and council tax benefit as it will take a while to establish myself .. just wondered how it all worked do they take your whole earnings into consideration inc set up costs, products for each job or just what you pay yourself .. i understand you have to work 16+ hours, but what if you dont one week .. is it averaged out over the month? can non paid work be counted towards the 16 hrs ie. marketing, practising, putting website together, sorting kit out etc

any advise or pointer in right direction would be really welcome, my kids and the hope that i can one day run my own little business is all i have to hold onto in the dark days ahead ...

I'm interested in this topic as in a single parent of two. I read that the new benefits system they are bringing in universal credit will treat people who are self employed- differently as in if your earnings fall short of minimum wage then it will not bridge the gap! It's not clear whether this including those of us with children though!

At the moment the threshold for working tax is 13,000 and you get more if you work 30plus hours but you still get child tax credit if your earning under 40,000 I believe (I still got it when I earned 32,000) but I only got £10 per week. A lot depends on how old your kids are and how much your childcare fees are weekly! Whether your get housing benefit depends on how much your rent is and your childcare fees. If you own your home then hb won't pay a mortgage for instance!

As someone else said I always have "entitled to" calculator to see how much help I can get. Google turn2us or entitled to it should come up!

Just do your research on being self employed and the new changes coming into force soon I know in a bit scared of this universal credit malarkey! It doesn't sound much fun! Xxx

 

[hazeleyes]

I think the days of the government subsidising failing businesses will be over when universal credit comes in. Apparently you have to make the minimal wages after expenses for each hour earned and so on. As a single parent from birth (although I was financially very secure before baby came) I do understand that people want to get back in the work place but I object to subsidising other people's often failing business, not because I'm jealous of their ample benefits but because it effects how much I can charge to make a good living as the benefit subsidised beauty business can charge less than me with a mortgage, high council tax, full price child care and so on. It does make it unfair especially a lot of these business deal purely in cash in hand so is hardly a level playing field. So your working tax might even be universal credit now according to official time lines so it is worth checking if you should really doing another job until your business takes off.

Oh sorry I didn't see this when I wrote my reply lol- yeah I heard this too- it will get tougher for businesses in future years- not sure if it's including parents though?!