Immigrationboards.com

hello all!

I could do wth your views and advice (recommendations), please assist:

I am about to apply for my ILR, under General Tier 1, have gone through the form and already have an idea of what's needed.

1. One big question, I have just done my 2010/2011 self assessment tax return, traded for 6 months during this tax year and total income was about £40,000. Do you think this is a descent income for a self-employed, well according to the home office? I'm expecting the income to double for 2011/2012. I was employed for the past 4 years but decided to go self-employed last year.

2. secondly, I'm working with my accountant to prepare management accounts for 2011/2012 year, and have NOT paid any tax yet since the deadline is January 2013 ( I always wait for last minute as I'm also investing on another Ltd company that I'm about to start trading soon), my application is due in January 2012, do you think this will bring any problem? will I have to ask the Home Office to write a letter confirming the estimate to be paid at the end of tax year? or is it advisable to pay at least a part of it before I submit my application? Please advice

3. Thirdly, I am thinking of using a lawyer/representative for same day application... will I be required to go with them on the day?

4. Any other notes I should consider? got two months to prepare myself and I really want to get it right at first attempt, bloody expensive!!

Any other advice will greatly be appreciated

Thanks
Bibie

1. It is decent if it is sufficient for you to qualify for settlement. Not so if you do not qualify.
2. Wait for others to comment.
3. No.
4. See FAQs for ILR - WP/Tier 1/Tier 2/HSMP holders

sushdmehta, many thanks for the link and your comments. Will be waiting for others to share their experiences too

Bibie

I hope you are aware that as a Tier 1 (General) migrant, your eligibility to settlement will be assessed on the basis of points (scored against various attributes) and not just on an XYZ amount of annual income.

Hence the question regarding decency / sufficiency of 40K as earnings is irrelevant ... unless you can share how many points you score (for all attributes) with previous earnings of 40K.

In other words,
If you score the required minimum points with an income of 20K, then even 20K is decent. But, if you do not score the required minimum points with earnings of 60K, then even 60K is not decent.

bibie wrote:sushdmehta, many thanks for the link and your comments. Will be waiting for others to share their experiences too

Bibie

I would like to suggest that you should pay your tax for year Apr 2010-Apr 2011 earlier the better.
Since Accountant prepares your Tax statement and submit it on line in general. Tax Office takes few weeks to send you back the official Tax return which is equivalent to P60( I think they call it P30 or P40). This would make your case much stronger like 5 P60,s.
It is my personal experience

My accountant submits my tax return form since 2008(4years) and i never received any"the official Tax return which is equivalent to P60"from HMRC.
HMRC sends only a short letter how much i owe them and the threshold of payment info with "giro"payment cheque attached below.

sushdmehta wrote:I hope you are aware that as a Tier 1 (General) migrant, your eligibility to settlement will be assessed on the basis of points (scored against various attributes) and not just on an XYZ amount of annual income.

Hence the question regarding decency / sufficiency of 40K as earnings is irrelevant ... unless you can share how many points you score (for all attributes) with previous earnings of 40K.

In other words,
If you score the required minimum points with an income of 20K, then even 20K is decent. But, if you do not score the required minimum points with earnings of 60K, then even 60K is not decent.

That's comforting, I score about 105 points...

khalidmirza wrote:

bibie wrote:sushdmehta, many thanks for the link and your comments. Will be waiting for others to share their experiences too

Bibie

I would like to suggest that you should pay your tax for year Apr 2010-Apr 2011 earlier the better.
Since Accountant prepares your Tax statement and submit it on line in general. Tax Office takes few weeks to send you back the official Tax return which is equivalent to P60( I think they call it P30 or P40). This would make your case much stronger like 5 P60,s.
It is my personal experience

WILL DO, thanks for the hint - will make sure I receive the confirmation from Tax Office sooner!

fora wrote:My accountant submits my tax return form since 2008(4years) and i never received any"the official Tax return which is equivalent to P60"from HMRC.
HMRC sends only a short letter how much i owe them and the threshold of payment info with "giro"payment cheque attached below.

This sounds good, I believe they will be happy for me to handle the letter showing the owed amount for the current tax year... Tks for enlightening

Even I am also the same boat as you, I am due to apply ILR in dec 2011. I have payed all PAY/NI taxes and VAT taxs for the year 2010-2011. The only pending taxes which I need to pay for 2010-11 are dividend taxes and corportion tax which I am planning to pay next year January 2012.

I hope this not effect my ILR. To be clear, as long as we make the payment before deadlines we should be fine. Can anyone comment please..

Thanks,

I also submitted(my accountant-online) Tax return for 2011/12 but i did not pay yet.I am going to pay in January 2012.I did not receive a letter from HMRC for this yet.

fora wrote:My accountant submits my tax return form since 2008(4years) and i never received any"the official Tax return which is equivalent to P60"from HMRC.
HMRC sends only a short letter how much i owe them and the threshold of payment info with "giro"payment cheque attached below.

We submitted self employment for last year. HMRC sent a letter stating tax year, tax due and tax paid. I wonder you never got any letter

You have not said whether you are a director of your own company? if so, you are employed and not self-employed.

seanjoe wrote:You have not said whether you are a director of your own company? if so, you are employed and not self-employed.

Immigration rules wrote:Under Part 6A of these Rules, "Self-Employed" means an applicant is registered as self-employed with HM Revenue & Customs, or is employed by a company of which the applicant is a controlling shareholder.

I got my ILR today!

I'd like to thank everyone who contributes to this board for advice that made me prepare pretty well...

Special thanks to sushdmehta, khalidmirza and fora who replied to my questions.

All the best everyone

Congratulations. Please post your application experience as it will be helpful for others as well.

Congrats!!! At the end, did you go via PEO with a Solicitor or postal? If time permits can you please write a brief summary about the experience.

Thanks

sushdmehta wrote:

seanjoe wrote:You have not said whether you are a director of your own company? if so, you are employed and not self-employed.

Immigration rules wrote:Under Part 6A of these Rules, "Self-Employed" means an applicant is registered as self-employed with HM Revenue & Customs, or is employed by a company of which the applicant is a controlling shareholder.

sushdmehta,
So as per Part 6A , does it mean even a director & shareholder of a company one would need to declare as "Self-Employed" ?

jaskiratbaweja wrote:Congratulations. Please post your application experience as it will be helpful for others as well.

I applied through a solicitor. Initially it was difficult for me as I didn't keep sufficient records at the beginning of my business, especially invoices! But I had time to revise my billing system and gather all the invoices, paid & unpaid.

Here is what my solicitor asked me to provide, under Self-employed - General Tier 1(started with HSMP):

1. Bank statements, business + personal x12 months each
2. HMRC NI class 2 bills and payment receipts / or bank statements showing these payments
3. 2010/2011 self-assessment return (although not a strict requirement I believe).
4. Business VAT returns (although not a strict requirement I believe).
5. Current and previous Tenancy Agreements (although not a strict requirement I believe).
6. Letters from 4 main companies/businesses that I work with (they outsource their work to me) confirming when I started working for them plus the invoice summaries.
7. A letter from my Chartered and Regulated Accountants confirming Gross and Net Income.
8. Sole Trader Management Accounts from my Accountants
9. 12-months invoice summary from my Accountants
10. My latest Education certificate (although I used the same one for my Tier-1, but they needed it again just in case)
11.Life in UK test certificate
12. Banker's Draft of £1,350
13. All invoices
14. Driving licence (because I used it as ID for my Life in UK test)
15. Passport (all that you ever held)


Lessons Learnt:
a. Make sure you keep all business related records. Find your accountant early.
b. Make sure you invoice your clients correctly and encourage them to pay direct into your business account, and ask them to include invoice numbers as references (this will make it easier for case workers to locate payments).
c.The more transparent your documents are, the easier for the case workers to assess your application.

All the best!

Thanks a lot Bibie!

bibie wrote:I got my ILR today!

I'd like to thank everyone who contributes to this board for advice that made me prepare pretty well...

Special thanks to sushdmehta, khalidmirza and fora who replied to my questions.

All the best everyone

Congratulations. I am so happy about your success. Party Time