Working forex means self-employer?

Beginner Questions
1

hi
i am in uk and receiving benefit of government , if i start to trade in forex markt ,should i let the job center know??
and benefit will be stopped by government??

2

Many UK benefits are ‘means tested’. That means that you only receive them if your income and your capital are below certain thresholds.

So you could potentially make enough money that your benefits would be withdrawn, but that is not typically an issue for most new traders. :stuck_out_tongue:

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3

thanks for your reply
how much is that certain thresholds?

4

The HMRC website may help (and I think they have a helpline on which you can ask questions anonymously, too?).

I’m neither licensed nor qualified to give advice about this (and probably nobody else here is either) but I think that until you actually have profits to report, there can be no adverse consequences for failure to notify them. It’s self-employed, not “a registered business”, so until something’s taxable (i.e. you’ve actually made enough profit to have to declare it for income tax), you should be ok. I think.

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5

I agree with @LaughingCharlie - I am not qualified to give advice either.

First - I don’t think you are likely to make money at all - so the issue wouldn’t arise.

Second - Consider spreadbetting - unless the rules have changed in the last 15 years or so HMRC consider this Gambling and it is not taxable.

Third - No I’ll stop there for the time being.

[Edit - I’m not sure you can open a spread betting account for very small money though.]

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6

thanks
it was useful .

7

Actually NO IT DOESN’T

Now i only speak for Australia here, but i assume similar circumstances exist in the UK

in Australia SELF EMPLOYED mean… You have a Business Number that is Registered.

Now. if a person is either on the dole (Unemployment benefit) or other benefits or is employed, but STILL TRADES FOREX.
that IS NOT CONSIDERED SELF EMPLOYED

but it is considered to have INVESTMENTS
and as such, IN AUSTRALIA… YOU ONLY NEED TO DECLARE THEM IF

  1. They are giving you more than $300 per week
  2. They actually make Money

well. Technically, you need to declare everything, but No one really gives two rats behinds if you lost money and don’t declare it

so my advise would be
first ensure that you actually can make money from forex
then talk to an accountant and find out if you need to declare it as personal income

but if you don’t have a registered business number or name, YOU ARE NOT SELF EMPLOYED legally

8

I think you can, actually - there are places that have £0.10 per pip as their minimum stake, and you could perfectly reasonably trade for money, at that stake (when you’re ready and have learnt and practiced enough) with as little deposit as about £200 (if you use smallish stop-losses).

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9

Then why reply, when the OP has specified that he’s asking for advice about the UK?

You always assume, when you reply to people here. And you’re nearly always wrong (as you are this time).

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10

Spreadbetting, as far as the UK tax authorities are concerned is the same as going down to the bookies and placing a bet on a horse, it’s gambling and viewed as such in UK and Ireland.

Only when the profits become your only or main source of income will you be taxed via “self assessment” (and become self employed if necessary).

As for benefits, the main accounting query would be the initial deposit, it would be declared as an asset on a means test.

Some benefits are means tested meaning that you declare all assets , others not, so no declaration of assets, your first port of call would be citizens advice, just put in the word ‘benefits’ in the query box and you will get detailed explanations of all benefits.

11

I think you are allowed to receive “benefits” as long as you have less than £16,000 in “savings” - so the actual deposit for a “micro-spread betting account” (Thanks to @LaughingCharlie, for that information) would not attract that query. (I may be wrong about the “savings amount” - they keep moving the targets. )

Many years ago - there was a form you had to fill in to claim “Benefits” called a UB40 - The questions asked were in great detail. At the end of the formm in tiny print was a tiny tick box saying “Straightforward ?” When you went for your interview, the only thing which mattered was to get a Tick in that tiny box - which meant the claim would go through without further checking.

I think the principle here would be “don’t rock the boat” - If you get to the stage where you are earning sensible money from your betting then is the time to raise the issue, not at this stage.

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12

…which is were the band got their name from, as they had all been unemployed

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13

Exactly so :sunglasses:

(Oh damn that 20 character rule !)

14

@LaughingCharlie

I’m getting the feeling that you don’t really give two stuffs about UNDERSTANDING, but instead you get pleasure out of demeaning people

because had you understood what i was trying to say,
you would have understood that i’m trying to throw ideas his way

I didn’t say “it’s like this in Australia SO IT MUST BE LIKE THIS IN THE WHOLE WORLD” did i ?

let’s look at another scenario
let’s take McDonalds for example

Now, I might say to someone “I can buy a Big Mac Meal here in McDonalds in sydney so i assume you’d be able to buy it in the UK as well”

Now, A NORMAL PERSON would understand what i’m saying

and even though i might be wrong (because i do know for a fact that you can’t buy a Big Mac everywhere in the World in Every Store, Just like some parts of the world in Mcdonalds’ have Hot dogs on the menu (but here in Australia we don’t)
but, the point is… even though i might be wrong, you could just as easily have said
"we don’t have Big Macs in the UK"

but then again, you could choose to shyte on someone and say something like

"See how you stupid you are, if you have done your research and not assumed you wouldn’t look like a complete idiot like you usually do "

you see mate
there are a few ways to respond
You always seem to choose the path that demeans the other person… NOW… WHY IS THAT?

I’ve tried to be patient with you, AND YOU KNOW THAT
and i’m showing tolerance in this post

but i do want to ask you WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS

because like i said
a Normal person would have simply understood that i was saying

  • this is the situation in australia
  • In Australia it’s ALSO COMMONLY MISUNDERSTOOD THAT IF YOU TRADE YOU ARE SELF EMPLOYED
    and clearly, it’s not the case

Now you should have also understood the following (and i really don’t know why i need to spell it out for you) but…

  • it’s also reasonable to assume that if that mistake is common in Australia, it might also be the case in the UK and in the US

that’s a fair call right

now, you have 2 Options here

You can be normal and say “yeah, martin, that’s fair enough"
or you can say
"there goes that assumption again” hehe

What is it with you ? huh
Can’t you look at what i’m trying to say AS A WHOLE

i did mention, this is how it is in Australia (BECAUSE i realize he stated he was in the UK)
i did mention he should get his only local financial advise
and i threw out some ideas that may help

so… What’s the issue ?

this site is about helping others IS IT NOT
it’s not about grabbing every opportunity to shyte on whoever you can

are you not the one that keeps saying KEEP IT RELEVANT
well, how is your rudeness relevant

I’m trying to put up with you ok charlie
i would appreciate the same respect in return

is that a fair call

and … if we can do this… we can keep some degree of peace on this forum… right
so… What say you ?

15

Actually I don’t know what to say! I have seen in many country that their government provides different facility for their unemployed peoples. I don’t why you are getting benefits from your government, you have not said here. It should be clear first. Like LaughingCharlie said you can ask your query in the helpline number of HMRC. I think no forex trader can give the accurate answer of this question.

16

@eddieb
wow… i didn’t know that[quote=“eddieb, post:12, topic:129473”]
…which is were the band got their name from, as they had all been unemployed
[/quote]

i grew up with UB40… Never knew that
thanks for that

17

Well you wouldn’t would you ?

Being a “Reverse footer”