How can one establish if you are Self employed or an employee for UK tax purposes? There is no actual or legal definition of what employment or self-employment is and it is based on previous judgments which are commonly referred to as 'case law'.

There are some key points to take into account in deciding the status of an individual for Income Tax purposes in the UK. Self employed business traders have various key distinguishing pointers and that self employed persons are able to:

- Manage and operate their own business taking all the required key decisions.
- Take complete financial responsibility for the success or failure of their business.
- Decide how, where and when they carry out their work.
- Hire other persons to do the work that is required the cost of which is borne by them.
- Provide the plant, equipment and motor vehicles that is used to carry out the work
- They are free to take holidays and time off when they want to.

Usually have more than one client or customer at the same time. This is not always the case as there are some trades such as motor cycle courier which are treated as self employed but may only be providng village de l'emploi avis for one courier service on a subcontract basis. I will explain this in more detail later in this article

People who are employees will usually:

- Work for one employer at a time and they (the employer) are in charge of the work that is done by the employee. They could how ever have two employments perhaps a day job and a week end job.
- Are directed by their employer as to how to carry out their duties and as to when and where they perform your work.
- Will be required to work a pre set amount of hours each and every week.
- Will qualify for paid holidays but can only take these holidays in line with their terms of employment as regards their length and timing.
- Will benefit from being remunerated at the same fixed amount depending on the hours that are actually worked, and get paid for working overtime.

Casual work or work of a part-time nature can still be classed as either employed or self-employed depending on the facts. The fact that it is casual or part time has nothing to do with their employment status.

Self employed motor cycle courriers despite possibly only providing services for one courier company they are generally treated as self employed because of how they work. They have no guarantee of work and are dependent on work being allocated to them. So if there is no source of work they do not get paid and then they must be classed as self employed. They supply their own Motor Cycles and pay for their own fuel and running costs.

It is, of course, possible to be both self-employed and in self employment simultaneously in that one could be working for an employer during the day and involved in running your own self employed business at the week ends or in the evenings.