My kid is a brilliant bookkeeper!

[SueEllen]

A 2 man LTD that uses a further 2 offshore contractors.

He also does basic import/export data into my client's ERP systems.

A very talented bookkeeper indeed.

I'm basically looking for where HMRC might decide this isn't a good use of my kids tax free allowance,

So he's not just a bookkeeper.

I would give him a different job title to reflect the variation in his roles.

And btw I agree with Ladymuck employing your own kid so he can spend his earnings on his school fees is extremely harsh. If you can't afford his school fees in the normal way then maybe you can't afford for him to be at private school.

[DrewG]

So he's not just a bookkeeper.

I would give him a different job title to reflect the variation in his roles.

And btw I agree with Ladymuck employing your own kid so he can spend his earnings on his school fees is extremely harsh. If you can't afford his school fees in the normal way then maybe you can't afford for him to be at private school.

The deal is that he'll get a bonus payment at the end of 6th form (to celebrate two years of employment!) and that's his money to keep, this will be whatever his personal allowance is for the following year (so he's looking at 12k in cash).

I also offered to pay for his entire living costs when he's at Uni so he doesn't have to get a job; he's pretty pumped about that.

I'm not being 'extremely harsh', I'm giving him the option to go and study at one of the top 6th forms in the country so he can get into a competitive medicine degree; and he gets 12k at the end as a bonus.... I'm such a harsh Dad....

You're right though, his title should be associate ERP consultant; that's worth far more in salary.

[WTFH]

He also does basic import/export data into my client's ERP systems.

Has your client given him security and access to do that?
Are they aware that it is happening?

[mudskipper]

I would suggest that HMRC might see you paying your child who then pays his own school fees out those earnings as an artificial tax avoidance arrangement, regardless of whatever work they are doing for the company. Most kids with a job don't spend their earnings on school fees.

[northernladuk]

Wonder what your clients will say when they ask your clients for evidence of his activity on their systems.

At the end of the day it's a complete sham so pointless trying to justify it to us, HMRC will think it is and you'll have to defend it. If you think you can and are ready for long investigation go for it. No point trying to justify it to us. Paying a 17 year old 12k for adhoc activities however you want to defend it isn't going to wash really.

[DrewG]

I would suggest that HMRC might see you paying your child who then pays his own school fees out those earnings as an artificial tax avoidance arrangement, regardless of whatever work they are doing for the company. Most kids with a job don't spend their earnings on school fees.

Are HMRC going to use their powers to review bank statements from his account?
Can HMRC have any say in where the money in his account is spent?

[DrewG]

Wonder what your clients will say when they ask your clients for evidence of his activity on their systems.

They will send an email to my support address asking me/my team to produce access logs which will show my companies support email address accessing the system. This is the same data we extract when the clients are having an external audit.

[jamesbrown]

Can HMRC have any say in where the money in his account is spent?

It must be spent on social care for his dad, which is needed urgently.

[NotAllThere]

Feels a bit harsh. Employ your kid and they have to then spend their earnings on their own education.

Not really. Now my kids have been earning a while, I've invoiced them for the costs of bringing them up.

[escapeUK]

All great ideas, you should do this. If you found a hen that laid golden eggs, NLUK would find many reasons why this was a bad thing and why you should kill it before HMRC found out. I honestly think he works in a gov datacenter tasked to sowing disinformation and quashing any hope or resistance citizens have.

Oh and lets be brutally honest, the chances of work from home, bone idle and stupid HMRC actually even querying anything are pretty slim. They can barely handle people wanting to ring up to give them extra money for free to make up missing NI years. How many billions were written off in covid loans? Oh yes 16 billion, they couldn't even be bothered to try and deal with that to get that huge number back.