[Dick]

My wife finishes work soon so i thought i'd pay her to do some admin etc. Does anyone else employ their wife and if so do you have to account for the pay, was going to pay her for about 10 hours a week and keep amount below paye and ni thresholds.

[darren clarke]

treat it like any other employee

[AuRavelling79]

Yes but she is "self employed" as my accounts bookkeeper. (She is already employed part time elsewhere.)

[Smudger]

If your wife is only employed by yourself you may have to get employers liability as she may not be seen as self employed, however you could make her a partner - this would split your tax liability between both of you.

best bet is to ask an accountant on what option saves you the most cash

Darran

[Blue Frog Systems]

When you say, finishes work soon, do you mean retirement or lay'ed off ?

If she will be getting another job, then i'd go the SE route

If not then make her a partner of the business and then you have two pre tax earnings.... thats how me and my wife work ours .

[darren clarke]

you do not need employers liability for immediate family

[Blue Frog Systems]

If she is a partner in the business she will need to be named on said insurance. Wont cost much as she is only admin and not actually cleaning windows & manual stuff.

[Steven Shoreditch]

Mine's always worked p/t until last year, but the neighbours got sick of the red light in the lounge window, so we had to call it a day.  Still does 'favours' for carpet cleaners, however.

[Count Phil]

Made mine a partner. It only costs a phone call to hmrc. Then the profits go to each 50/50 on the form. You get double the tax free allowance and costs you nowt. Just two tax returns.

My mate employed his wife a few hours, she doesn't even work with him. But then made her a partner, you can legitimately pay her half and get the tax free allowance even if she doesn't work and just sits at home, as a partner she can still have half the profits. That's 6k extra you won't be taxed on.

[Dick]

She'll be retiring so in receipt of state pension only which is below personal allowance, may even pay her up to that limit without her having to pay any income tax and it'll come out of my earnings so reducing my tax bill i presume. I just wondered if HMRC require any proof of her doing any 'work' for me or if they just accept it. Will I have to supply any form of pay slips to substansiate payments?

[darren clarke]

u might have to have wages slip   but brown envelopes will do

[darren clarke]

the only thing u must  make sure is she earns miminum wage for the hours she works