Share fisherman: Income Tax and National Insurance contributions

You’re a share fisherman if you work in the fishing industry and you:

• are not employed under a contract of service
• are a master or a crew-member of a British fishing boat manned by more than one person
• get all or part of your pay by sharing the profits or gross earnings of the fishing boat

You also count as a share fisherman if you used to work on a British fishing boat, but now work ashore in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). This could be making and mending gear or any other work for a British fishing boat.

Register as self-employed

A share fisherman is classed as self-employed. You must register as self-employed with HMRC within 3 months of when you first started fishing.

Fill in a Self Assessment tax return

You must fill in a Self Assessment tax return each year so you can declare all your income from any source, for example:

• self-employment
• employment
• Jobseeker’s Allowance

You can also claim for any business expenses on your tax return.

You must keep business records to support information you put in your tax return.

Do not record any tax that has been deducted by your settling agent on your tax return.

Complete a 46G Share Fishermen return if you are a boat owner

Once you’re registered as self-employed and registered with the Maritime Coastguard Agency you will be sent a S23 letter and a 46G form by HMRC. The S23 tells you about your legal requirement to send HMRC details of your crew of share fisherman and their share of the catch, in monetary terms.

You must include these details on the 46G form. Once you have completed the form, you should send it to: to sharefishermennationaladminteamisbc@hmrc.gov.uk.

The share fisherman in your crew need to include the details of these amounts on their self-employment supplementary page of their Self Assessment tax return.

For more information Telephone: 03000 561605.

Paying Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance contributions

When you register as self-employed, you are also registering to pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions. Depending on your profits you may also need to pay Class 4 National Insurance contributions.

As a share fisherman, you pay a special rate of Class 2 National Insurance contributions,contributions thiswhich contributescounts towards StateJobseeker’s Pension,Allowance, theas normalwell rangeas ofthe normal benefits forClass self-employed2 people,National andInsurance Jobseeker’scontributions Allowance.count towards.

You will usually pay Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance contributions through Self Assessment.

You must pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions if your profits are equal to or above the SmallLower Profits Threshold.

If your profits are below the Small Profits Threshold, you can pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions voluntarily to qualify for the benefits listed above.

YouIf your profits are below the Small Profits Threshold, you can pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions voluntarily to qualify for Jobseeker’s Allowance and the normal benefits Class 2 National Insurance contributions count towards.

You can check the Small Profits Threshold, Lower Profits Threshold and the special rate of Class 2 National Insurance contributions for for share fishermen, for current and previous years.

Claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance

If your Jobseeker’s Allowance claim date is between the first Sunday in January and 31 January, you will need to pay all the Class 2 National Insurance contributions asked for in your Self Assessment tax return as soon as you can, if you have not done so already.

HMRC must receive the payment for these National Insurance contributions by no later than 31 January. This is to avoid a delay in getting the contribution-based Jobseeker’s Allowance you may be entitled to.

If you can only pay your Class 2 National Insurance and owe HMRC any other money, contact us first before making the payment. We will normally apply payments to your oldest debts first.

Making it easier for you to pay your next tax bill

You can set up a Budget Payment Plan if you want to make regular monthly or weekly payments towards your next Self Assessment tax bill.