Really confused about taxes, self employed home tutor!

augusta24

Hi everyone,

I have a problem that I just cannot find the answer to online. I've read through the stickies here and I've literally spent hours reading through the Revenue website and I am still at a loss! I called the Revenue today as well and unfortunately the lady wasn't too sure herself!

Maybe this is staring right at me and maybe this is a really basic concept that I'm just completely missing! To be honest I think I'm going to go to an accountant in the end if this gets too complicated because I want to be sure that my taxes etc. are all above board!

Basically, I am technically self employed however I have no business accounts etc. as I am a home tutor and basically just earn a fixed hourly rate for a fixed number of hours a week.

I understand that I must register with the TR1 form and then file my tax return? However I'm finding it really hard trying to work out what and how much my taxes will be.

I am not an employer and I have been informed that I do not need to worry about VAT as I work in education. But I am sure that I will owe other taxes, income tax and USC perhaps? But I cannot find rates etc. anywhere!

I worked from Oct 2010 to Dec 2010 and earned just under €4000 and then worked from January 2011 until July 2011 and earned a further €10,260

I genuinely have been looking for info on this for hours, so even if someone could point me in the right direction I would be so grateful!

mari2222

register on revenue.ie for the ROS service - enter your figures and the site calculates what you owe

augusta24

mari2222 wrote: »

register on revenue.ie for the ROS service - enter your figures and the site calculates what you owe

Thanks so much for your help, however I'm having trouble registering for ROS as I need a tax registration number, how do I get one of these?
Is it just given to me when I send in the tr1 form or am I way off here?

MBateson

You need to register to get a tax number so submit thr TR1, before you commenced self employment what did you do for the rest of 2010?

augusta24

MBateson wrote: »

You need to register to get a tax number so submit thr TR1, before you commenced self employment what did you do for the rest of 2010?

I am only getting around to registering now with the tr1 form! Afraid I could be in some trouble??

I worked part time for 2010 before starting this self employment, howeever I only earned less than 5000 euro from that as it was part time. I also signed onto job seekers part time.

MBateson

You should have gotten a P45 when you left the part time employment, you'll need to include that on your tax return for 2010 as well.

Jobseekers allowance is not taxable but Jobseekers benefit is (or some of it) see here for details http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/claiming_a_social_welfare_payment/taxation_of_social_welfare_payments.html

augusta24

MBateson wrote: »

You should have gotten a P45 when you left the part time employment, you'll need to include that on your tax return for 2010 as well.

Jobseekers allowance is not taxable but Jobseekers benefit is (or some of it) see here for details http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/claiming_a_social_welfare_payment/taxation_of_social_welfare_payments.html

Thanks so much, so I send off my tr1 form and will receive a registration no. Then I can sign up to ROS and calculate my taxes online ?

Thanks everyone i finally feel like I'm getting somewhere!
Can anyone give me a rough idea of what taxes I'll likely have to pay? As far as I can tell it will be USC and income tax although my earnings seem to be so low that maybe I avoid the income tax? Is there any other taxes I'm forgetting about here?

MBateson

It's hard to say how much you'll be paying but it should be low. There may also be PRSI to be paid but ROS will work that out as well.

augusta24

Thanks so much for your help and advice! I feel much better about the whole thing so just want to get registered ASAP to get some idea of how much I will owe them. Is the site user-friendly? Ideally I want to organise it all by myself rather than use an accountant as funds are tight, but having said that its really important to me that I get it all sorted and it is all above board!

I just have one more question I'd really appreciate if someone could help me out with, as I keep getting mixed opinions off people about this.

Basically when do I pay my taxes? I worked for the end of 2010, so I assume I have to pay these taxes by Oct 2011 correct? But is it possible to pay my taxes from Jan-July 2011 then too? I'm finished this self employment now completely and would love to just get it all sorted now rather than having to pay them Oct 2012.

Thanks again.

MBateson

Hi,

You pay 2010 taxes by Oct 2011 as you said. You'll have to wait until end of 2011 to lodge for your work this year as you may be working elsewhere (say, as an employee) from July onwards and this all has to go on the return.

There is a requirement to make a preliminary payment towards towards 2011 in Oct 2011 as well, so you might need to estimate the tax for 2011 when preparing your 2010 return.

augusta24

MBateson wrote: »

Hi,

You pay 2010 taxes by Oct 2011 as you said. You'll have to wait until end of 2011 to lodge for your work this year as you may be working elsewhere (say, as an employee) from July onwards and this all has to go on the return.

There is a requirement to make a preliminary payment towards towards 2011 in Oct 2011 as well, so you might need to estimate the tax for 2011 when preparing your 2010 return.

Thanks for that! Delighted to have it all clear in my head now.

Slightly worried though, as I said I worked a few months of 2010 and did not do anything about those taxes last year at all... I just want to be realistic here could I be in trouble because I'm only doing it now? Just as you said I am supposed to make a preliminary payment for 2011 this oct... I'm worried as I did not do this last year.

Nicliam

Your tax number will be the same as your PPS number when you are self employed. The purpose of the TR1 is to register you for Income Tax.

peposhi

How did you get on with your tax?

My wife has just started working as a home tutor as well as having a part time job in a creche. And it's very confusing for her too