Youtube Partnership / Universal Credit

[Riska]

Hi guys,

 

I made a claim under the new pilot scheme Universal Credit in January 2014. In March I setup a Google Adsense account and linked the account to my Youtube channel, I received a one time payment as I met the $100 threshold on my very first attempt. This has since been put on hold until I sort out proof of address. I then deactivated my Google Adsense account at the end of March as I decided to switch to a Youtube Partnership, I have not received a payment for this yet.

 

Would anybody be able to tell me what I must do with the Universal Credit Benefit and the HMRC? The network itself doesn't deal with foreign tax as they are all American based. I can't disclose the exact amounts I expect to earn on here, but it is nowhere near the amount of a Full-Time job or even a Part-Time 16 hour job per week on NMW.

 

I need to know what I need to do? Would I be best cancelling the partnership and decline any future earnings to prevent a potential worse off scenario? Or would I be better off with the extra money under Universal Credit?

 

I will be expecting a payment at the start of July from both the Partnership Network and Universal Credit. I need to try and sort it all out before I end up in a big mess.

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Riska

[Lapsed Workaholic]

I'm not sure what sort of accounts the Google and Youtube accounts you mention are.

 

Would any income from them be classed as earned or unearned income? Would that income be regular or guaranteed? Any income from gambling, for example, may well not be regular or guaranteed and unless it takes your bank account over the maximum allowed before nullifying your entitlement to benefits altogether it looks like it would not be necessary to declare it. If memory serves one is allowed up to £16,000 in one's bank account without it affecting one's benefit.

 

If you copy and paste the following web address into the Google search box;

 

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/benefits_w/benefits_welfare_benefits_reform_e/benefits_uc_universal_credit_new/benefits_uc_how_much_will_you_get/benefits_uc_calculation_step_3_calculate_your_income/benefits_uc_step_3_calculate_unearned_income/uc78_uc_calculation_calculate_unearned_income.htm

 

It should direct you to a page with the following heading at the top of a list:

Universal Credit Calculate unearned income - AdviceGuide

 

This may help to throw some light on your query.

[Riska]

If you link Google Adsense to Youtube you can gain money from ads displayed on the videos. It is highly dependant on the popularity of the content, the ad bidding costs, nationality, on views, minutes watched, ad placement etc. The same thing applies with a Youtube Network gaining money by Google Ads.

 

The income would be regular as long as I continue to upload videos, so the payments too would be regular, but the cash earned can vary month to month as I must rely on people to play and share the content. It will never be a set payment. One month as an example it could be £100 for the month. July would be the Summer Holidays so that could then rise for a month and then drop again.

 

It is not my intention to do this sort of thing full-time. I'm looking to get myself employed as soon as possible. The declaration of any earnings is the only issue. I wouldn't like to leave it for months/years and then be fined/jailed because I didn't follow the proper channels as I didn't understand it atall. I'm not earning thousands a month here, not even hundreds a month, at the end of the day though I'm still earning something .

 

This is why I came here to know for sure as this forum is probably the next best thing for support. I wouldn't want to phone HMRC or Universal Credit until I know if I need too, otherwise I could complicate things even further as we all know the Job Centre have the tendency to mess things up.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Riska

[antone]

You need to declare this. I have a feeling that it would be treated as income from earnings - probably self-employed income. In effect, you are running a (very small) business. But I don't know that for sure. However, there is no good reason not to mention it to the relevant departments. Oh, yes, JCP does mess things up, but you most certainly don't want any suggestion that you have undeclared income. In the long run, the consequences for that could be a lot worse than anything that would happen if you simply tell them and ask them to make a decision.