Job Seekers Allowance

OH earns silly money, which means whatever tiny amount I could try to claim is laughed out of the office.

 

i was made redundant two years ago, i asked for jsa went through the forms meetings ect i felt like a criminal and was given 34 quid a month, lucky i was unemployed for just over a month and escaped the badly run system.

 

You need to keep all the receipts when you are self employed yes. You use this to offset the amount of tax due, but it usually costs hundreds for your accountant to make the claim as the tax return is a nightmare.

Also, we loose quite a bit each year as the receipts fade in heat & sunlight.

If you are employed, you get paid each month, if you are self employed & the work stops coming in, its beans & Worcestershire Sauce as Dim says.

 

they were actually very pleasant at the end .... just guys doing their jobs ... had a good laugh with them

I was lucky .... I never charged anyone VAT ....

my lawyer was clever (and in a nutshell) he said that VAT is paid when VAT is charged

so I acted stupid and got lucky... and I'm a dumb immigrant

but at the end of the day, I really messed up .... as I knew I was supposed to register, but just kept putting it off
:o

 

Back in the 80s most of my mates laughed at me, earning measly wages while they were making a packet self employed.

You make your own choices.

Me, I wish I'd got myself a job with a pension a long time ago, but its too late now.
Our attitudes change over the years, and our mistakes catch up with us.

 

My youngest daughter left college about 18 months ago, during which time she's had 3 or 4 different jobs on short term contracts, with short periods (usually only 2 or 3 weeks) claiming JSA in between.

The inefficiency and poor level of service from the DWP has been a recurring theme on every occasion.

Letters saying 'You are not entitled to Jobseekers Allowance' followed next day by another letter telling her 'You are entitled to £** per week' and so on.

A letter telling her that JSA was being stopped because she 'failed to attend the arranged interview', (probably because they failed to tell her anything about said interview).

Her last attempt at claiming JSA was for about 3 weeks last September, when she eventually gave up in despair, having been mucked about and told she'd get nothing.

She received the payment last week. :wallbang:

 

PMd

Jack McHammocklashing

 

I can't offer Ziggy any help, but with regards to fuel receipts, self employed or not, accept and keep them.
I'm in the motor trade and contaminated petrol or diesel can lead to very expensive repairs.

 

Get an old fashioned BILL SPIKE or preferably make your own
A large needle with a large eye threaded onto 3' of string stick every receipt on it
They are then in DATE order as received, and do not fade as covered by the newer receipt, Which the accountant finds a wonderful help and reduces the charge as less work sorting out the dates etc

There are very good home accountants,WHO are cheap and can save you THOUSANDS more than what they charge
(usually retired tax inspectors, who are making a buck to top up their GOLDEN PENSION and know how to apply the rules to satisfy their CLIENTS )

I retire from Tax Credits in eight weeks
I am going to grow Daffodil bulbs
My pension income will be wiped out buying my stock and setting up the business
Then I will work the required 30hrs pw bringing them on
When the frost comes and I lose all my stock I have actually made a loss and have to start again next year
Meanwhile getting £89pw working tax credits, not forgetting to set ofF my loss against my following years pension

Jack McH

 

You can always claim something, even if not JSA. Last time I was out of work for a while, I was offered 'severe hardship allowance'. I don't know if it still exists, but back then it was £25 a week, as opposed to £35 for income support (later replaced with JSA). It was the bottom line, the amount that the government figured was least you could survive on.

The reason I was out of work is because I'd quite my job on the (false) promise of another one. The job I quit was in Hampshire, where I was renting a house I couldn't afford, and living no life (eating the likes of pasta and tinned tomatoes every day so I could afford my rent plus the bus fare to work).

In the end, my missus (who at the time was just my girlfriend) claimed for us both, because I couldn't because I was out of work through my own fault.

I had so many rows at the dole office. In one, I pointed out that the amount of tax I'd pay in the last year had more than paid for the smug little jobsworth's salary, and that he was only in a job at all because people like me, who'd had a stroke of bad luck were out of work. Keep on at them, and you'll get your money. They will treat you like filth, but just keep appealing and they'll give in. What do we pay or National Insurance for if not to look after us when the poo hits the fan, as it does for everyone sooner or later.