Employee earnings on tax return query

Gem7321

I have a client who is going to start paying a wage to his wife below the NI & PAYE threshold. She has no other employments but is self employed and receives carers allowance. I understand in this circumstance he doesn't have to register as an employer, but when it comes to completing the wifes self assessment employment pages is it OK to leave the PAYE reference blank as there won't be one?

Also, as the employer does not need to be registered, does this eliminate the requirement to inform HMRC that there is no P35 to submit? As the first thing the online form to do this asks you for is the PAYE reference.

Sorry silly question but it's bugging me!

jilt

What about putting it in box 16 'other taxable income', think that's where I'd put it as there's no PAYE scheme. However I do stand to be corrected by the more experienced.

To be honest I can't file a return with no PAYE ref so I do see how you could include it in the employment pages.

Newbie

I would register for PAYE, then if no employers annual return is due you can write to the tax office notifying them as such. The income should be reported on the employment pages with the relevant PAYE ref.

T.C.

Just going off on a tangent - make sure that the wife is actually working for the business, as an HMRC enquiry would check this!

Sulew17

Sorry to butt in on this thread (am only a lowly Level 3 student) but as a carer myself I wanted to point a couple of things out to you (in case you don't already know). Carer's benefit is a taxable benefit so will need to be taken into account, also a carer cannot earn more than £100 / week after tax without losing their benefit.

JodieR

I'd tend to agree with Jilt - if it'll not let you submit the return without an employers ref then just include it in the 'other taxable income' box. There is something that you can enter in the employers ref field if it's an overseas employer (a string of 9s or zeros or something) so maybe you could enter the same in this situation and just include a note in the white space.

Gem7321

Thanks for your replies everyone.

Sulew I didn't realise the £100pw was £100 after tax so thanks for that.

I asked the employer helpline re the P35 and they said there is no requirement to inform them of anything unless they have a PAYE ref. So just got to keep a P46 on file.