#21

I’m in the same situation as you - limited company director. Unfortunately I haven’t had any paid work since Christmas. Bit of a fucking nightmare to be honest. Never seen it quite this bad before, even after the 2008 crash. The now-cancelled IR35 tax changes completely destroyed the contract market for the past three months, and just as things were looking up Covid-19 has fucked everything again.

Very grateful to have just been offered 2 weeks work starting Monday. I have also done some work ‘for free’ earlier in the year on a promise of getting paid when the client gets some money. And if they do, they have work for me for a while, so I’m really hoping that comes through.

I’ve applied for more jobs than I can count (easily over 50). Have interviewed for over 10 and not been offered any. Was second choice candidate for three of them, considered ‘over-qualified’ for another, one went to an internal candidate after the lockdown, others have just cancelled all vacancies.

I’ve probably been complacent, because in the past I’ve never struggled to find work. I am starting to wonder if I’m experiencing a bit of ageism now, or maybe I’m just not on top of my technical game as much as I was.

All a bit grim really.

#22

Oh man that sounds rough. Hopefully something comes good for you soon. Take care.

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#23

Thanks for the support. Although the rainy day fund is on its last legs, I am just about OK for now, and my partner is working, so it could be worse.

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#24

@weeber

image

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#25

Thanks. As I suspected, then - if I furlough then I can’t do any fee earning work for the duration - which would effectively mean winding down the business (because I don’t think it would survive a period of inactivity).

#26

Whereas those that are defined as being ‘self employed’ (not begrudging sole traders at all) can continue to work, whilst legitimately claiming their 80% (or £2500 per month). The measures penalise those of us that are self employed and have chosen to do so by setting up a limited company whilst being the only employee.

#27

@weeber dunno if this is an option for you or even doable but it’s maybe worth exploring?

#28

Ooh, that looks like it could be a clever work-around. I’ll look into it. Thank you.

#29

A lot of you will already know this but in case anyone doesn’t, if you’re self-employed and working from home you can take a chunk of your rent/mortgage interest and utility bills off your tax return as business expenses

2 Likes
#30

This includes council tax too btw

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#31

how’s everyone doing? any news? nobody’s paying their tax bill in july right? they can’t imprison us all!

#32

As someone who (for good reason and who is paying it back now to my immense detriment) didn’t pay their tax bill a couple of times, we’re definitely not all going to jail because they didn’t jail me! Not sure how in fuck I’m going to keep my repayments up though.

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#33

SE people can check eligibility for the government income support scheme now

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/self-employment-support/enter-unique-taxpayer-reference

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#34

I’m eligible to claim and my slot is from tomorrow at 8am

Sightly nervous about the wording - based on “profits” not “income”, which for me is quite a large difference as I invested in a lot of equipment in the 2018/19 tax year

#35

did you get given a specific slot? i think i can apply from friday. the cutoff is 50k profit i believe, isn’t it? and that’s averaged over three years.

#37

Is it only taken off that one years books?

#38

You get given a time you can apply from, but no deadline I think.

I just hope profits is the same as income, and that it’s not just based on taxable profit after expenses are deducted?

It’s based on the last 1-3 years depending on how many you have.

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#39

Sole trader photographer here; did it last night and it was quite straightforward. Should be receiving a payment in 6 working days.

Unfortunately as it is indeed based on profits and not turnover, and as most of my turnover went straight back into the business, it’s quite small and doesn’t cover remotely what I would have had coming in from the weddings I was going to do that have been cancelled or postponed. Still something though.

#40

Just did mine, really easy. Would’ve loved more (obviously) but it’s at least a little bit to tide me over into summer and a good taster for a lot of Regular Folks of what UBI might feel like, which is one potentially excellent knock on effect of this.

#42

Yeah was very easy to apply for - had all been worked out and you just put your details in.

Unfortunately I am also a bit fucked as I put in a tax return for 2017/18 even though my self-employment income that year was very low, scattered amongst other employments; I’ve had to appeal to ask them to consider my claim based only on 2018/19 otherwise I’m going to be in quite a hairy situation.