Wife joining practice

castiel

I am a bookkeeper and work by myself at the moment. My wife has recently stopped receiving SMP and instead of returning to work will be working with me doing the majority of the bookkeeping while I concentrate on another business I own.

Should she become a partner in the business and be a member in practice herself (she is already a member of AAT) or should she be an employee of the business? Either way is fine really we just would like to know which way would be more financially beneficial when taking into account tax credits etc.

At the moment the business is still very small, and although she will be working a lot on admin/marketing the business to expand it, actual chargeable income for the time being won't be 16 hours per week.

I would like to ask for opinions please!