Jobseekers Allowance and self - employment Question

tomhenryford

Hi there,

I have searched through all the obvious places but I cannot seem to find the calculation formula for working out means from self - employment.

I am wholly self-employed (no other income), I get a JA payment every week as my earnings were low when I started.

I am now up for reassessment but I'd like to know how they calculate your means.

For example if you earn €198 a week from self employment does that mean I'm entitled to nothing now.

I kill myself in my job, it's very physical, its long hours and most of the time 6 days a week and no holiday/sick pay. Why would I do it to get the same sitting at home doing nothing like others!

red petal

I don't know the legal answer regarding calculations etc. but the reason to earn the same money as being on the dole while working your arse off doing 6 days is: Satisfaction and the opportunity to better yourself and increase your earning potential.

Stay on the dole doing nothing will get you nowhere and leave you at the mercy of the government and whatever they see fit to give you as an allowance. Work your ar$e off and you have a limitless potential for learning and earning.

I do agree though that it is an extremely difficult country to get a business up and running from scratch though with little assistance or incentive for it. But the alternative is working for someone else which I imagine you are capable of doing if you can work 6 days for yourself. The minimum wage would have you on more that double your current earning for working 1 day less a week and having the usual perks of holiday pay, sick days etc.

Theres 2 sides of the coin really. You are choosing to work 6 days earning less than you could working 5 so should you really be entitled to JA, probably not.

splinter65

tomhenryford wrote: »

Hi there,

I have searched through all the obvious places but I cannot seem to find the calculation formula for working out means from self - employment.

I am wholly self-employed (no other income), I get a JA payment every week as my earnings were low when I started.

I am now up for reassessment but I'd like to know how they calculate your means.

For example if you earn €198 a week from self employment does that mean I'm entitled to nothing now.

I kill myself in my job, it's very physical, its long hours and most of the time 6 days a week and no holiday/sick pay. Why would I do it to get the same sitting at home doing nothing like others!

Income from self-employment and the means test
The earnings from your business will be assessed in the means test for Jobseeker’s Allowance. The assessment must reflect the income you may reasonably be expected to get from your business over the next 12 months. Income for the last 12 months will be taken as a guide but allowing for any factors which it is known will vary. You should be prepared to discuss these factors when you are assessed for Jobseeker’s Allowance.

Earnings are assessed as gross income less work-related expenses over 12 months. Your expected annual earnings from self-employment is divided by 52 to find your weekly means from self-employment. Any ‘drawings’ you take from the business is not an allowable expense. If your ‘drawings’ from the business are greater than the level of income calculated, the ‘drawings’ are assessed as cash income. There is no exhaustive list of all business expenses allowed because expenses vary with the nature and extent of the self-employment. However the following are the main allowable expenses in most cases:

Materials (supplies costs)
Motor running costs (portion applicable to business)
Depreciation of machinery or equipment
Insurance relating to the business
Telephone (portion applicable to business)
Lighting and heating (for business and not domestic use)
Advertising
Bank charges
Stationery
Van leasing
Any other costs associated with running the business (household running costs are not allowed as deductions against business profit)
To prove the level of income from your business you must give your receipts and payments (documentation showing money coming in and out of your business) or audited accounts to the person dealing with your application in your Intreo Centre or Social Welfare Branch Office.

tomhenryford

Thank you but I have already read that information on several websites. Its not the formula that was used to calculate my original means. I have the paperwork that I submitted and the net figure divided by 52 is not* the means listed on my letter from social welfare. Unfortunately they did not outline how they reached the figure but following the info its certainly not that straight forward.

The system for calculating means for part-time workers is 60% of there total weekly earnings plus a disregard of €20 per working day. So I don't understand why self-employed would be taken as the full amount per annum.

splinter65 wrote: »

Income from self-employment and the means test
The earnings from your business will be assessed in the means test for Jobseeker’s Allowance. The assessment must reflect the income you may reasonably be expected to get from your business over the next 12 months. Income for the last 12 months will be taken as a guide but allowing for any factors which it is known will vary. You should be prepared to discuss these factors when you are assessed for Jobseeker’s Allowance.

Earnings are assessed as gross income less work-related expenses over 12 months. Your expected annual earnings from self-employment is divided by 52 to find your weekly means from self-employment. Any ‘drawings’ you take from the business is not an allowable expense. If your ‘drawings’ from the business are greater than the level of income calculated, the ‘drawings’ are assessed as cash income. There is no exhaustive list of all business expenses allowed because expenses vary with the nature and extent of the self-employment. However the following are the main allowable expenses in most cases:

Materials (supplies costs)
Motor running costs (portion applicable to business)
Depreciation of machinery or equipment
Insurance relating to the business
Telephone (portion applicable to business)
Lighting and heating (for business and not domestic use)
Advertising
Bank charges
Stationery
Van leasing
Any other costs associated with running the business (household running costs are not allowed as deductions against business profit)
To prove the level of income from your business you must give your receipts and payments (documentation showing money coming in and out of your business) or audited accounts to the person dealing with your application in your Intreo Centre or Social Welfare Branch Office.