Employer

Being an employer is a question of fact. So if you have people working for you, you need to be clear about the facts. Your workers could be: 

• Employees – so you are responsible for deducting and paying the tax and National Insurance
• Self-employed – so they are responsible for their own tax and National Insurance
• Workers covered by special schemes – such as agency workers, managed service companies, workers in construction, actors and teachers

You need to put your workers in the right category. If you get it wrong, you could face a large tax bill and financial penalties.

There is a lot more to being an employer than just tax. So if you need to know more about being an employer, a good starting point is the Business link website page – Becoming an employer for the first time

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk Becoming an employer for the first time

If you are not sure if you are an employer, start with the section ‘Am I an employer?’ or one of the other sections below: 

• Am I an employer?
• Employed or self-employed
• Domestic workers and the simplified PAYE scheme
• Construction Industry and other special tax rules

Once you are certain that you are an employer, look at these sections for information on how to operate tax collection under PAYE correctly.

• PAYE for employers
• Working for your own company
• Registering with HMRC