How do I de-register myself from self-employment?
What is self-employment?
A person is self-employed if they run their business for themselves and take responsibility for its success or failure. Someone can be both employed and self-employed simultaneously, for example, if they work for an employer during the day and run their own business in the evenings.
Self–employed workers are not paid through PAYE and do not benefit like the employees in the employer’s facilities. The employment law does not cover self–employed people, as they are their bosses. When you start a business, if you earn less than £100.00, you do not have to register yourself as self-employed.
Self-employed people work for themselves and are responsible for their failure or success. Besides, they can hire someone to work for them. However, they must decide whether to hire a self-employed person or make payments through PAYE.
How do you register your self-employment with the tax office?
Register with HMRC for Self-Assessment by 5 October in your business’s second tax year. HMRC might fine you if you do not register by this deadline.
To register for Self-Assessment, you need to visit the gov.UK registration page and submit your details.
Registering for Self-Assessment should also give you a Government Gateway user ID, which you can then use to set up your tax account and log online to submit your return.
Do I have to de-register as soon as I stop my Self-employment?
You must inform the tax office when you stop as a sole trader or end a business partnership; the self-employment also sends their final tax return for the period they were self-employed. When you want to cancel your self-employment, you can either phone and talk to them or cancel online by completing the form.
Can I de-register after a couple of years of leaving self-employment?
Notify HMRC once you have stopped self-employment and file your final return as soon as possible. Also, make sure you keep all your records for six years if they contact you for some information you need to produce them.
If you do not file, you could face a failure-to-file penalty. The penalty is 5% of your unpaid taxes for each month your tax return is late, up to five months. In addition, you can claim your money back if you have paid too much tax in error.