They dont ask for proof in the application, but if they did well all you can do is show the extent of the business to them in terms of what your activites are. It should be fairly obvious in most instances whether a business looks like a full time one or 5 hours a week! ie you can provide evidence in terms of your turover, number of sales etc to show you are working your backside off. You could also show your browsing history to show you are working and not staring at Facebook all day! Few small business owners work less than 30 hours in this type of biz unless its very small scale.

Regards,
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James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk

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Your indispensable guide to Small Business Bookkeeping, Self-Assessment & VAT

Thanks, Jane, for the advice. In regard to my self-published true ghost stories books on Amazon, I am really excited to see that sales are rising steadily, and so I am wondering if I could eventually become self employed as a writer if I start earning a sufficient income each month. Again, I would need to know how I would go on with the Tax Credit people in terms of proving to them that I am working 30 hours a week researching for my books, writing them etc.