In this guide, I’ll walk you through the tax implications of being employed and self-employed. Whether you are a side-hustler, aspiring entrepreneur or working on your master plan to work for yourself, it’s important to stay on top of your finances.
Updated 14 March 2022
Can you be Employed and Self-Employed at the Same Time?
Yes, you can. Plus, if you want to want to work for yourself full-time, holding onto a job can be a great way to get together startup money you need or
If you are planning to keep onto your job, I’d recommend you check whether you are under any contract that prohibits you from being self-employed. I’d also advise you against treading on your employer’s toes, for example, by stealing clients. You don’t want to get a bad reputation and jeopardise your employment!
Tax When You Are Employed and Self-Employed
If you look at your payslip, you’ll see that all your earnings are paid to you after deducting tax and National Insurance. On this occasion, there are no dramas as your employer handles it all for you.
However, once you start working for yourself you need to start following the rules of self-employment tax on those earnings only. This is because the money you get paid by your clients is untaxed.
Self-Employment Taxes Explained
When Should You Register as Self-Employed?
In summary, you’ll need to register as self-employed once your business income (not profit) goes over £1,000. You also have to pay income tax as well as Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance on your business profits.
The reason you don’t need to register as self-employed when your income is below £1,000 is because there is an allowance call the UK Trading Allowance. This lets UK taxpayers earn £1,000 without having to let HMRC know and registering as self-employed. This allowance is really aimed at people who do a little babysitting or sell bits and bobs on eBay. So, if you are planning to set up a business, then you may want to register as self-employed. By doing this, you can record a tax loss and reduce your tax bill in the future, for example.
How to Register as Self-Employed
How Much Tax Will You Pay on Your Self-Employment Income
When you’re self-employed, you pay income tax and National Insurance based on your business profits. That means all your business income less allowable expenses and any other allowances and reliefs you are entitled to.
Income Tax
Income tax is a cumulative tax which essentially means, the more you earn the more you pay. Therefore, when you are employed and self-employed, you’ll pay income tax based on ALL your taxable income.
The current income tax rates are:
| 2022/2023 | 2021/2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Personal Allowance | £12,570 | £12,500 |
| Basic rate 20% | £12,571 to £50,270 | £12,501 to £50,270 |
| Higher rate 40% | £50,271 and £150,000 | £50,001 and £150,000 |
| Additional rate 45% | over £150,000 | over £150,000 |
So, if you are employed on a salary of £25,000 and have business profits of £20,000, you’ll pay income tax of £6,486 based on your combined income of £45,000, worked out as:
£12,570 x 0% = £0
£32,430 x 20% = £6,486
You’ll notice that your first £12,570 of income is tax-free since it is covered by your personal allowance. When you are employed and self-employed, it’s really important that you only claim this allowance once otherwise you’ll end up owing HMRC money.
To avoid this problem, you should check your payslip and find your tax code. The most common tax code in use for 2021/2022 is 1257L (it was 1250L for 2020/2021). This means your employer will be giving you a portion of your tax-free allowance every time they pay you. If you have used all your personal allowance up in your employment, then all your self-employment profits will be taxed at least 20% or more. If you haven’t used up all your personal allowance, you’ll get credit for it when you declare your income to HMRC (more on that later).
National Insurance
National insurance is more straight forward when your employed and self-employed, they all work in isolation.
You’ll be paying Class 1 National Insurance on your employment earnings which you can find on your payslip. However, you’ll also need to pay Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance on your self-employment profits which isn’t connected to your employment earnings.
Here are the current rates:
| 2022/2023 | 2021/2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Small profits threshold – no NICs below this threshold | £6,725 | £6,515 |
| Class 2 National Insurance | £3.15 per week | £3.05 per week |
| 2021/2022 | 2021/2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Small profits threshold – no NICs below this threshold | £9,880 | £9,658 |
| Class 4 National Insurance 10.25% | £50,270 | £50,270 |
| Class 4 National Insurance 3.25% | over £50,270 | over £50,270 |
Following on from the example above, we can ignore your employment earnings of £25,000 for the purposes of calculating Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance, and just calculate it on the £20,000 business profits. You’ll pay:
- Class 2 National Insurance £163.80 (£3.15 x 52 weeks)
- Class 4 National Insurance £1m037.30 (£20,000 – £9,880 x 10.25%)
When you are employed and self-employed, you pay three types of National Insurance – Class 1, Class 2 and Class 4. You can apply to reduce your Class 4 National Insurance payments under the rules of the HMRC Annual Maximum. You should note that this is for individuals with significant earnings.
How to Declare Your Self-Employment Earnings
Once you’re registered as self-employed, you’ll need to follow the rules of self-assessment to declare your income. That means you need to submit a tax return once a year by 31 January, summarising your earnings for the previous tax year.
A tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April so your tax return due by 31 January 2020. It should summarise all your income between 6 April 2018 to 5 April 2019.
When it comes to filling in your tax return online, you’ll also need to delcare ALL your earnings. That means if you are employed and self-employed you’ll need to fill in two sections:
- Employment section with details of your employer, gross income and tax deducted
- Self-employment section with details about your business, income and expenses
You’ll also need to fill out more sections if you receive other types of taxable income like rental income and dividends.
