Me and Tax

Obi167

Hello everyone,

I was wanting some advice on self assessment, I have not done this before but I think I should be starting to soon.

Here is my situation (in nice handy bullet points)...

* I am full time employed, over the non tax payer threshold, but about 10k below higher tax rate.
* Next month or the month after I am hoping to take in a lodger at £400 in total a month, I'll be entering the 'rent a room' scheme (which I think covers £350 per month).
* I buy and sell on ebay, which I (rightly or wrongly) have not put in the taxable, as I was buying things to use and then sell on, but it has started to become more and more buy purely to sell. This does make profit (albeit a very small one - more of a hobby).

So... If I start to self assess (which I presume I need to for both of the above), do I need to do 2 self assessments for both the ebay and the lodger, or one for both of those, or one for both those and my full time (PAYE) employment? Does it effect my employment or are the 2 things separate? (and if so are there 2 separate non taxable thresholds?).

Is the self assessment process as I understand it..? i.e. You create an annual account showing income and outgoings, and declare loss or profit total for the total year, if it is a profit you pay your rate of tax on that amount.

As the lodger is starting part way through the year I wont go over the 'rent a room' allowance in this financial year... Do I still do a self assessment?

I have lots more questions, but i'll see if anyone can answer these ones first, and sorry if its a bit rambling... Tax doesn't need to be taxing... but, well... it really is!

Thanks in advance.

heretolearn_2

One tax return covers all your income.

You don't need to start doing tax returns if you are starting the rent-a-room scheme. One of the advantages of the scheme is to simplify things; not tax return unless you go over the income limit for it.

Ebay - if you are buying with the intention of selling for a profit, then strictly speaking this is a business and you need to declare it on a tax return.

you only get one tax-free allowance, no matter how many sources of income you have, not one for each source.

John_Pierpoint

The on-line system, though a bit of a struggle to get started, as you can do "what if" experiments with it to prove to yourself that you understand what is happening.

You can keep on adding figures as you sort them out after the end of the tax year on 5th April. only when you are happy with your efforts do you press the button to submit your return.