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Employment and self-employment

Updated on 6 April 2023

Migrants

If you are a migrant to the UK and you work here, it is important to understand if you are self-employed or employed for that work.

Illustration showing the words self and employed

Whether you are employed or self-employed is not just relevant to your tax affairs but is also relevant to your employment law rights such as entitlement to the minimum wage and holiday pay. You can find more information on employment law rights in general from ACAS.

Whether you are employed or self-employed is not a matter of choice, by you or the engager; it depends on the circumstances. In particular, it depends on the nature of the relationship between you and the engager. The distinction between employment and self-employment is not always clear. Some businesses try to exploit this by treating you as self-employed when you should be treated as an employee, because it can save the business money.

As such, you should beware of the following situations:

  • someone offers you work and gives you the choice of being employed or self-employed;
  • you go to work for someone, thinking you are an employee, but the work-provider tells you that you are self-employed;
  • you go to work for an employment agency – which sends you to work at different jobs for different people – and the agency tries to treat you as self-employed.

In any of these situations it is important for you to find out the facts and work out for yourself whether you are employed or self-employed, or both. If you need help, you can find out where to get advice on our Getting Help page.

This part of the website has more information on the following topics:

Tax guides

Introduction to the tax system How do I work out my tax? What income is taxable? What tax allowances am I entitled to? What tax rates apply to me? How is my tax collected? What if I cannot pay my tax bill? Do I need to complete a tax return? Self Assessment: understanding the basics What is Simple Assessment? How do I claim tax back? How do I claim back tax I have overpaid through PAYE on wages or pensions? How do I claim back tax if I complete a tax return? How do I claim back tax if I am taxed under the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS)? How do I claim back tax on savings income? How do I claim a marriage allowance refund? How do I claim back tax on a payment protection insurance (PPI) pay-out? Should I use a tax refund company? What is National Insurance? How do I get a National Insurance number? What are Specified Adult Childcare credits? What is Scottish income tax? What is devolution? Do I have to pay Scottish income tax? How does Scottish income tax work? What is Welsh income tax? Do I have to pay Welsh income tax? Do I have to join a pension scheme? Tax relief on your pension contributions HMRC digital services Enquiries, penalties, appeals, complaints and debt Enquiries How to survive an enquiry by HMRC Tax penalties Tax appeals Alternative Dispute Resolution How do I complain to HMRC? What if I cannot pay my tax bill? What if I have a tax credits overpayment?
Am I employed, self-employed, both or neither? Working through a limited company What is the national minimum wage? How do I work out my tax? What income is taxable? What tax allowances am I entitled to? What tax rates apply to me? How is my tax collected? How is tax collected on taxable state benefits? How do I check my coding notice? Do I need to complete a tax return? What tax do I pay on redundancy payments?Employment benefits and expenses What are benefits-in-kind? What payments and benefits are non taxable? What if I incur expenses in relation to my job? What travel expenses can I claim? What if I use my own car for business purposes? Payroll giving Allowances and expenses paid to armed forces personnel and deductions from their income Pensions and employees What is automatic enrolment for employees? What National Insurance do I pay as an employee? How do I repay my student loan? What if I do not pay enough tax? What if I pay too much tax? What if I work abroad temporarily? What if I am in the armed forces and work overseas? First time workers Apprenticeships

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