self employed and not yet declared

[badnews]

I am self -employed for the first time. I believe you should declare this in the first 3 months of becoming self employed. I have been meaning to doing this for nearly two years and still not declared. I keep meaning too, but time keeps passing by and I still havent got round to it. I want to declare but I am too scared now because I know I will get into a lot of trouble and I am scared I will be sent to prison. Up untill becoming self employed in Oct 2006 I have always been on salary and I have always paid my tax and insurance. I am normally a very law abiding person.

[joggerjayne]

The authorities have probably traced you from this post, back through your internet account, and they're on their way round to get you.

Quick ... climb out the back window and get away, fast.

[badnews]

doubt it, but you never know with them!

[THECORBYLOON]

I've just had a look at the registration form online. It says if you're registering more than three months you may have to pay a penalty of up to �100 but you can give your reasons for lateness. So, there's not a spell in prison awaiting you.

Get registered, put aside the �100 just in case and don't worry about it.

[Ghostrider]

You will get fines �100 plus they will want any back NI etc that you should have paid. Consider it a lesson and mmove on but do it now, do not prevariacate as it will only get worse.

[Tom Braider]

You will definitely not go to prison. You won't even be prosecuted. But HMRC wil want you to make an honest declaration of your income, and they will want you to pay up. Firstly, Class 2 National Insurance, which will be about �250 a year plus a late notification penalty of (I think) �150. The tax and, if necessary, Class 4 National Insurance can't be worked out until you've done a tax return. They will ask you to pay the whole amount you owe right away but if you haven't got it you should pay as much as you possibly can and ask for time to pay the rest. HMRC aren't particularly keen on this and will want to know that you've done everything you can to get the money you owe but they do know that you can't get money from thin air and it's usually possible to come to some arrangement.

I'd see an accountant if I were you, even though it may seem like spending money you haven't got. What you spend will probably be a good investment.

As thugulike says on the jobs thread, this happens a lot and in some ways it's no big deal. But there's no getting away from the fact that for 2 years you haven't been paying your way and it's time to settle the bill that others have been paying while you haven't.

Whatever you do, don't let the bill get bigger by doing nothing - they'll find you eventually!

[badnews]

Thankyou for all your replies. I have now contacted an accountant who is going to sort everything out for me.