Honny or business...?

zewest

A friend of mine who makes extra money giving guitar lessons and doing photography has told me that if it is classed as a hobby and you earn less than £6k per year doing it, then you don't have to declare anything to the tax man. But from reading some of the posts on here about people earning £1k-£2k per year and having tax issues, well, I'm confused!

Have I been breaking the law for the past year?! If so, I didn't mean to!

(I haven't made a profit yet if that helps!)

Zena x


(edited to say the title should of course be hoBBy, but it won't let me edit the title! gah!)

Horace

As I understand it - if you are earning money from your hobby eg giving guitar lessons in exchange for money then you are running a business.

All income needs to be recorded for the tax man - I currently don't earn much but will prepare a self assessment tax return each year. I too am on a low income but it still needs to be accounted for.

Why not contact the HMRC - their self employment line is very good. https://www.hmrc.gov.uk

Red_Cat

I suspect the OP's friend is referring to the threshold below which no income tax is paid i.e. the Personal Allowance.

Premier_2

Red_Cat wrote: »

I suspect the OP's friend is referring to the threshold below which no income tax is paid i.e. the Personal Allowance.

Possibly, but any earned income should still be declared to the tax man who will apply the personal allowance as part of determining any tax liability.

hunnie

Hi,
A Friend of mine makes dried flower arrangements for friends and family.
As more people became interested and she began to get requests for arrangements from friends of friends, she paid a visit to the local tax office.
They told her it was still a 'hobby' and that she didn't need to register as a business at that point.
I don't know when they expected her to consider it as a business but it does seem that some things can remain as a hobby despite making a small profit.
regards, hunnie