How to register delivery driver job as a self employed for tax/paye

Hi mates. My brother is working for some pizza resturant, he gets paid 1.75 per delivery order and 4 euro per hour by his employer, but he earns all these payments as a cash from his employer, employer never registered him as his employee, employer told my brother that he works as a self employed so what so ever tax he may want to pay my brother will have to do himself on self employment basis. My question here is whats the best my brother can register his job with revenue office and tax his income for PRSI contributions in order to claim social services like medical card and etc where all payslips and tax certs needed? Please help us as we dont know much about these issues? Thank you so much.

As far as I can make out from the above he is a self employed contractor, he should be registerd for vat, providing vat invoices to the restaurant, doing his own vat returns and tax and as such won't have much luck claiming social welfare benefits etc, not an expert by any means in these matters but to be honest it looks like the black market economy

But he works for resturant . i think vat is only applicable when he provides some goods to the resturant. there should be some solution to tax his job I hope?

No, he was told he was self employed by the restaurant, similar I would think to a courier service, as a self employed contractor he should charging vat on services supplied at 23% and registering himself and paying vat etc.

mark1 said:

No, he was told he was self employed by the restaurant, similar I would think to a courier service, as a self employed contractor he should charging vat on services supplied at 23% and registering himself and paying vat etc.

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Couriers are different for tax purposes.

VAT would only apply if the annual turnover exceeded €37,500.

Just because the restaurant says he self-employed doesn't necessarily mean he is. The restaurant will obviously want him to be self employed as it benefits it not to have him on payroll. Revenue may take a different view, though.

It's a difficult position to be in, as if he challenges the employer he'll probably lose his job. He quite clearly was of the opinion he was being offered employment, and not being hired as a self-employed contractor.

While there may be grounds to challenge it legally one would have to question if it's worth it.

The alternative is to register as self employed and file tax returns etc.

VAT should only come into play after he reaches the threshold for the provision of services, unless of course he wants to claim back VAT on diesel, repairs and maintenance, tyres, etc. of his commercial vehicle.

I suspect though that unless he is supplied with a company van / motorbike for work he will be using a passenger vehicle and will have been told the restaurant has him on some mythical global insurance to cover his delivery work. This is untrue of course, as is the fact that he is a contractor. Revenue will classify him as an employee.

This is an issue well known to both the Guards and Revenue but for some reason enforcement seems patchy, to say the least.

I think the above posts clarify all your issues, as I said I'm no expert , the hourly rate of pay is an issue also if he were an employee but it still seems the restaurant in question is using the black economy

so it will be of some help if my brother gets himself registered as self employed with revenue first but how will he file returns like will he need some sort of payment reciept or payslip from his resturant/employer for that? I am so confused about this really. Thanks for your kind advises.

If your brother registers as a sole trader he will have to make an income tax return each year and at that time pay any income tax due. If he started in 2012 it will be easiest if he makes the return for the year to 31/12/2012 by 31/10/2013.
To know what profit he has made he needs to keep a record of all his income and expenses. It sounds as though his "employer" is not giving him a record, and paying in cash, which is harder for your brother to keep track of than a cheque. He should keep a diary and mark down each day what he received, how many hours worked, miles driven etc. He should keep the slips for all relevant expenses, such as petrol, tyres etc.
The www.revenue.ie site has lots of information for people starting in business.

Thanks so much Gervan. Its really helpful. Can you please guide us on what type of documents will my brother receive from revenue office after filing his returns for the year? Plus my brother might apply for medical card where he needs to provide HSE about his income details..so what documents can he produce to them for the same as well as from revenue to show his tax contributions??