Self-employment and Universal Credit - Reporting your business income and expenses

Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction
00:24 - How DWP consider you as self-employed
00:56 - Business income and expenses explained
01:41 - Your Universal Credit online account
02:00 - Reporting information correctly
02:30 - Tips to help you report income and expenses
03:24 - More information on GOV.UK

Transcript:

Self-employment and Universal Credit - Reporting your business income and expenses

This video has audio, chapters and subtitles.

If you are self-employed and claiming Universal Credit, you must report your business income and expenses to DWP every month.

We are likely to consider you as self-employed if you run your own business and decide how, where and when you work.

- For example, you may sell goods or services to make a profit.
- Be the owner of a company, a freelancer or a sub-contractor.
- Set the price of your work and send invoices, instead of getting a wage or salary
- And, be responsible for paying your own tax and National Insurance.

Self-employed business income is money that you receive as part of your work.

Self-employed expenses are the necessary costs appropriate to running your business.

- For example, costs for a place of business – where you work.
- Purchasing tools or the cost of equipment, such as a mobile phone and office stationery.
- Car, van or travel requirements, including mileage claims.
- Or, other legal and financial costs, such as insurance.

Personal expenses must not be reported, such as lunch or non-business travel costs.

You must report your business income and expenses in your Universal Credit online account every month.

We will send a notification when you need to do this.

You will not get your next payment of Universal Credit until you have reported your business income and expenses.

It is important to report this information correctly so you receive the right amount of benefit.

If you do not report correctly or tell us too late, you might be paid too much and have to pay some of the money back.

You might also have to pay a financial penalty.

If you deliberately give us incorrect information or report incorrect expenses that you should not be claiming, then you’re committing benefit fraud.

Here are some tips to help you report your income and expenses correctly.

- Use a separate business bank account – this will make it easier to keep track of your self-employed finances.
- Know what you can and cannot report – a list to help with this is available on the GOV.UK website.
- Keep records organised and up to date – have your receipts, bank statements, sales invoices and any other relevant documents in order. DWP could ask for evidence of your income and expenses at any time.
- Support is available if you need it – you can get advice by contacting us on your online account.

Remember – you must report any other changes in your personal circumstances that may affect your Universal Credit claim.

For more information about self-employment whilst claiming Universal Credit and how to report your business income and expenses, go to GOV.UK and search for “Universal Credit self-employed”

This video is a guide only.

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