I'm out of work at the moment and because of this and the fact IT jobs in Mid Wales are rare i'm facing the fact that i may need to declare myself bankrupt.

 

After this the gorlfriend is going to look for full time work and i'll be at home looking after the kids

 

But i thought i might just start doing so coding/website work from home for the extra money. But i confused on what to class my self as. Just a self emplyed person doing freelance stuff or will i be a business? As i know you can't form a business after being bankrupt, or can you.

 

I was planing on just using my name for the website with my portfolio, so will i be filling in the self emplyed form saying i'll be trading as my own name? i.e. Neil Harding Trading As Neil HArding?

 

I'm confused.

You would definitely be self-employed if you were making money out of it. I'm not sure what that means in relation to being bankrupt though.

As far as I know there's nothing stopping a bankrupt person from being self employed. I just think you aren't allowed to be a company director for a period of time afterwards.

Check out the citizens advice bureau - it's pretty good for that sort of thing.

OK so lets say i go self employed. Do a few websites in a month and get paid £2000 (unlikly but lets just say) i declare this in my self assment and pay the 20%ish income tax. Does that mean the rest is for me to send as i see fit? or do i need to put the rest into a business account?

You get a certain amount per year that you can earn tax free, something around £5000 if I remember correctly

OK so lets say i go self employed. Do a few websites in a month and get paid £2000 (unlikly but lets just say) i declare this in my self assment and pay the 20%ish income tax. Does that mean the rest is for me to send as i see fit? or do i need to put the rest into a business account?

 

Yeah, it's more or less yours. Just be careful that all of the bankruptcy stuff is done and dusted, or else your debtors may come after you for whatever you've made (although perhaps paying your debts should be a priority - YMMV).

 

ETA: Bionic types faster than me and he brings up a good point - bankruptcy shouldn't be done casually. That being said, I don't advocate declaring bankruptcy at all but I do know someone who did it a few years ago, was able to keep her car due to her job, got approved for rental accommodation in a few months, and now just bought her own home (her boyfriend is the only one on the mortgage papers at present, but they'll add her after she hits her three year bankruptcy anniversary). What's more important, though, is to figure out why you went bankrupt and keep it from happening again. It may not be the best time to be self-employed, since you'll be making very little, if anything, initially. Those are just my two pence having seen someone go through it very recently; not trying to judge you and I do wish you all the best, whatever you decide.

I've already got an IVA (just coming up to 1year now) but due to not working and the girlfriend not working we simply don't have any money coming in hence the bankruptcy thought, also if we get a new jobs in mid wales we will only be looking at factory work and getting low income so again it won't leave alot for the IVA that my creaditors would be happy with (total debt when i started the IVA was 23K)

Going as an ltd for a single man band web designer would be a bit unnecassary, and really complicate all the taxes. My advice to you would be to go and see an accountant - the initial consultation is always free, and they will advise what to register as (tax wise) and what type of bank accounts you should set, and what you can write off your tax, computers, travel, electricity bills, mobile phone bills, etc.