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Have you ever thought about your employment status?
If not, it's usually quite easy to tell what it is.
Have you ever worked for a firm that pays your wages or salary every week or month?
If the amount you earned had income tax and national insurance
deducted from it before you received it,
then you were an employee.
If you did some work for someone and they just paid a fixed amount that you agreed
in advance,
this might mean you're self-employed.
But wait,
to be on the safe side don't just think about the money you received
for the work you do,
think about the way you actually do the work.
Do you provide the main items and equipment you need to do your job?
Do you regularly do work for different clients or customers?
Do you have to correct wrong or faulty work yourself?
Or what about running your business as a whole?
Do you, along with perhaps one or more business partners,
put your own money into the business and decide how the business operates?
If the business makes a loss,
does it affect your personal financial situation?
Do you yourself have to find ways of making sure the business gets back into
profit?
Answering 'yes' to most or all of these questions strongly suggests
that you are self-employed.
But don't forget that you can be both employed and self-employed.
For example, you could have a job as an employee during the week
but run a business as a self-employed person for a few hours each evening and
over the weekend.
Hopefully you won't ever have too much trouble deciding what your employment
status is.
However, if you're ever unsure,
you can't just decide on your employment status yourself. Instead,
your employment status is decided by your actual relationship with the people
or organisations you do work for.