maternity allowance & self employment

[vac_uk]

does anyone know... if ur getting maternity allowance but have started a new business self employed but have people working for u rather than working urself (as u have a baby to look after) and also since the business is new it is running at a loss so there is no earning being made from self employment.... would u still get maternity allowance?

 

[_Vicky_]

erm I guess it would all depend upon how you willl maintain the business while off - are you paying someone to manage it for you whilst on maternity leave? In that case yes you can claim - if you are proposing to do all the paperwork etc etc then you can use your KIT days and still claim. BUT if you are planning to manage the business and it will use up more than 10 days of your time thgouhout your maternity leave then you will be against the MA rules - hth

 

[lili24]

Not sure if I understand the question properly but maternity allowance for the self employed is based on your national insurance contributions, so if you have paid enough NI you will get maternity allowance regardless of whether you made a loss or profit.

Also agree with what Vicky said xx

 

[MrsRH]

if you have started up a business whilst on mat leave and claiming MA, you will have to declare this.

The HMRC will allow you to do 10 KIT days but anything more than that you will have your MA stopped.

I think they (HMRC) will argue that if you have set up a business, you are 'working' so be careful about not working more than 10 days.
As mentioned above, it doesn't metter whether you are making a profit or loss
xxx

 

[vac_uk]

i was employed during pregnancy and became self employed after ... only i dont work in the business, i had to employ people to do it. I dont think u are allowed to be working at all if ur receiving maternity pay (apart from 10 days)...to start up the business we spent a lot of money resulting in any money that comes in is still covering losses... plus because i was paying out wages, i was lucky to meet their wages each week whilst building up the business.....had to let the employees go as we were loosing too much money so now i just have my family doing it for me when they can but still running at overall loss....

My dilema is that i was told i wasnt going to get maternity pay but appealed it (deciscion was due to mix up in dates) and the appeal came through with the award being granted... i read on the letter that u should inform if taking employed or self employed work but im now worried that they would decide not to pay me then but really i still have no earning - im just trying to build up the business until i am able to work in it.

Its all a bit mixed up but dont know what best thing to do... if i dont say anything would i be in the wrong since i can proove at the end of the tax year anyway that i wasnt earning? or do i need to say something since it might show up anyway somewhere on my nat. ins code? Confused.com !

 

[vac_uk]

well im not far into maternity, my baby is only 7wks, so already i have been registered self employed over 10 days so theyre not going to entitle me to it then? Its not really fair since im not actually earning !! I guess it needs to be declared then argued with HMRC tho, but most likely theyre not going to pay out im sure Really not fair !

 

[MrsRH]

difficult one.....

if you are doing ANYTHING for your business, that includes doing any letters, payroll, phone calls etc, it is classed as work
even 5mins a day is classed as a one KIT day.

It is difficult for HMRC to prove your work but they could look into it via your business records and tax return

Is there someone else who can run your business without you getting involved.. that way you can keep your MA??
xxx

 

[vac_uk]

Thats what i was thinking... i just read on their site than you can work 10days then any additional days you work you would loose the money for those days... my maternity pay is until march so if i stop now then maybe i can still get the pay from now till then even if they take the previous pay away from me that would be okay... but how can i let someone else work it for me... thats actually what i am doing, i dont do anything in the business, my staff were doing it... they were let go last week so the only way to continue is to have family do it for me... but then if registered under my name i would need to forefit my MA... so would i need to take my name off the business and sign it to someone else? What if i was subletting the business premesis for the time being and letting someone else trade until im able to come to work?.

Its really difficult, its always the people who do things legit that get stung for it !!