Working as a freelancer means you are self-employed and being given a fee for the work you do or that a business doesn’t want to employ you as an employee but instead wishes to pay you by invoice. It could be an hourly rate, a day rate or a project rate that you negotiate with them. The organisation would then be classed as a client and you would be selling them a product or service. So for example, if someone wanted to commission a piece of artwork from you and were willing to pay you for it, then you would invoice them for the work once you had completed it. You may want to negotiate a materials fee if the project is very large and ask for them to pay for materials in advance. It all depends on what the work is and how you will fund it in order to get the work completed.
Can I work as self-employed on a Tier 4 visa?
No. unfortunately you can’t do that on the Tier 4 Visa.
Can I work as self employed at the same time as being employed in a part-time job?
Yes you can.
Do I pay tax on the money I earn and if so how do I do that?
You can earn up to £1000 without registering as self-employed according to the Government website: https://www.gov.uk/set-up-sole-trader
But if you earn over £1000 for work you do as a self-employed individual you will need to register yourself with HMRC and you must do this before 5th October of the year following. So if you earn money in July 2022, for example, you then have until 5th October 2023 to register as self-employed. But our advice is to not leave it to the last minute because you may find it quite complex and you don’t want to miss deadlines.
Where do I go to find out more information about Freelancing?
You can read our article –Guide to Freelancing: 14 websites to help you become a Freelancer.
We work with Brookes Enterprise Support to run workshops on starting your own business and being a freelancer and this is a focus during Brookes Thrive Festival in week 8 of Semester 1. This is a great place to start thinking about working for yourself. You can access the Brookes Enterprise Support pages here.
You can find out more about negotiating a price for the work you do in our article – Guide to Freelancing: 14 websites to help you become a Freelancer.
There is much more to come on freelancing so watch this page.