Ready to apply, please verify documents - final question

[Canada123]

Hello,

I'm a contractor. I will be applying soon as I only have a degree. Please let me know if you see anything wrong with the documents I'm providing.

Age:
Points claimed: 20
Documents: Original passport

Qualification
Points claimed: 30
Documents: Original degree certificate.
Letter from UK Naric confirming the level of the qualification is equivalent to a British Bachelor’s degree (Honours) standard

Previous Earning:
Period: 01/01/2008 to 31/12/2008
Points Claimed: 25
Documents:
Personal bank statements from 01/01/2008 to 31/01/2009 showing deposits into accounts (December's invoice was actually paid 06/01/2009).
12 invoices signed and stamped by client that I contract for
Letter from client detailing all payments
Tax notice from government showing gross earnings for 2008
Statement from accountant showing revenue, expenses and final gross earnings in GBP (using oanda.com currency rates).
Extra documents:
Speadsheet earnings overview highlighting where each piece of information can be found and corroborated with.
Contracts signed and stamped by client.
Oanda.com currency printouts
Expenses printouts in CAD used by accountant for statement in GBP
Original tax return (confirms expenses and gross earnings in CAD)

English Language Requirement
Points Claimed: 10
Documents: Original passport from Canada

Maintenance Fund
Points claimed: 10
Documents: Bank statements for last three months
Letter from bank confirming minimum balance has been more than £2800 for last three months.

My earnings situation is a bit complex as I made money in two currencies so had to include lots of extra to show how everything related.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Good luck to everyone.

[aspirant09]

yes documents look fine to me....

[tapindersingh]

You are ready to go.

Good luck!

[Canada123]

Hi,

I had my friend who qualified under the old HSMP rules read over my application and she brought up a point that I'm unsure of.

The money I earned for Jan-Oct was in GBP. Nov and Dec was in CAD.

Since I live in Canada I had to convert for tax purposes so:

Total (from invoices in GBP) $55000 CAD
Expenses (related to my self-employment) $4000 CAD
Gross income $51000 CAD or ~£28800 GBP (using oanda for 31/12/2008).

As this is converting my income from GBP to CAD and then back to GBP (after accounting for expenses) this wasn’t best representation of my actual earnings in GBP

AND according to guidance notes:

116: “An applicant should use the closing spot exchange rate on the OANDA website at http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic on the last day of the period for which he/she has claimed earnings in that currency.“

I only had earnings in CAD for the months of November and December so didn’t want to wrongly re-convert the January-October earnings back to GBP.

122: “The applicant should provide details of the overseas earnings, in the original currency in which they were paid.â€

[Canada123]

No one has any comments on if I've done the calculation correctly?

Really want to send this off asap.

Thanks

[aspirant09]

hey ,

Not sure if i understood your calculation correctly but i think you should :

(1) For Jan to Oct - keep salary in GBP , support by two sources of income proof ( bank staements , payslips)

(2) for Nov and Dec - Keep Salary in CAD the use the Onada website rate on 31 Dec 2008 to find out the exchange rate and then use the PBS to find out the Eqvivalent GBP amount.

(3) add (1) and (2) and show as your total previous earnings.

[aspirant09]

hey ,

Not sure if i understood your calculation correctly but i think you should :

(1) For Jan to Oct - keep salary in GBP , support by two sources of income proof ( bank staements , payslips)

(2) for Nov and Dec - Keep Salary in CAD the use the Onada website rate on 31 Dec 2008 to find out the exchange rate and then use the PBS to find out the Eqvivalent GBP amount.

(3) add (1) and (2) and show as your total previous earnings.

[Canada123]

hey ,

Not sure if i understood your calculation correctly but i think you should :

(1) For Jan to Oct - keep salary in GBP , support by two sources of income proof ( bank staements , payslips)

(2) for Nov and Dec - Keep Salary in CAD the use the Onada website rate on 31 Dec 2008 to find out the exchange rate and then use the PBS to find out the Eqvivalent GBP amount.

Thanks for the reply aspirant09.

The issue is I'm a contractor so have had expenses in earning my income. The expenses are all in CAD so it's difficult to figure out which rate to use for expenses so I can show my final earnings in GBP.

(3) add (1) and (2) and show as your total previous earnings.

I've done that to come out to total income in GBP then deducted my expense converted to GBP to get my final gross income.

I just hope that makes sense to the case worker. I've tried to explain as clearly as possible. Ideas?

[aspirant09]

based on my understanding............your expenses are not the subject of discussion in "previous earnings" .....by expenses you mean u have paid soem one else a salary for the same job as yours? what does your bank statements have .....the invoiced amount or amount paid after expense?

i beleive that the best figures to show would be the ones which can be found on on the Salary Proof as well as the Bank Staements.

[Canada123]

based on my understanding............your expenses are not the subject of discussion in "previous earnings" .....by expenses you mean u have paid soem one else a salary for the same job as yours? what does your bank statements have .....the invoiced amount or amount paid after expense?

i beleive that the best figures to show would be the ones which can be found on on the Salary Proof as well as the Bank Staements.

The expenses are things the Canadian government allow you to claim if you are self employed. In my case, telephone and office expenses.

The bank statements have the invoiced amount.

[aspirant09]

i guess then you are fine.
So i think your calcluation is ok but try to explain this explicitily in the "previous earnings" section.Like you can make an Excel sheet and expalin each of the "payments/amounts" you got for your job.

Good Luck!
Cheers!!