Tax treatment of paid blogger

corky2

Hello all,

In my spare time, I get paid £18 by a company for each blog I send in (I travel a lot so these are travel blogs)

This is my first year so I have no real idea on the tax treatment and I don't think the company has any idea as I have asked them and they told me to ask HMRC!

Any guidance or websites with fellow bloggers discussing tax?

Cook_County

Presumably you are registered with HMRC as self-employed as with any other writer.

corky2

Nope. I have an employed job I just do this as a hobby, which I started this year and I turning out to be quite good at it. I am asking if this is an additional PAYE job or self employed as the company doesn't know which is a bit worrying.....

Savvy_Sue

Does your day job know you're doing this, and if not have you checked that your contract doesn't require you to tell them? Just a thought ...

TDPIX

corky2 wrote: »

Nope. I have an employed job I just do this as a hobby, which I started this year and I turning out to be quite good at it. I am asking if this is an additional PAYE job or self employed as the company doesn't know which is a bit worrying.....

It's not really for the company to know since this does sound like a case of self employment. (If you had a contract with the company for employment, that'd be a different story)

I've also made money 'on the side' as a hobby, but I still need to be registered as self employed

How long ago did you start doing this? Since I think there's a time limit (with a possible fine for missing it) for registering as self employed.

What Savvy_Sue is also worth thinking about - my employed contract states that I can't do work which would directly compete with my company (which is standard enough I think). Unless they say 'no self employed work at all' (very very doubtful), I personally wouldn't mention it though.

antrobus

Just to put the OPs mind at rest...

LurkerTurnedPoster wrote: »

...It is most likely self-employed, but HMRC could decide you are an employee ...

Then it would be the company's problem, and not the OPs.

LurkerTurnedPoster wrote: »

...They are reputed to be looking into people who earn money or trade through the internet and there was a disclosure window open until June 14th for people that have been earning to come forward.

You may want to speak to a tax advisor and prepare to disclose your earnings, if you come forward voluntarily any penalties on top of taxes due could be lower than if they come to you first. Don't rely on them not finding out....

The OP has told us "This is my first year". Even if he earned income before 6 April 2012, he still has plenty of time to report etc

OP is currently in no danger whatsoever of getting fined, thumped, or anything by HMRC.

LurkerTurnedPoster wrote: »

...
If the company has not put you on their PAYE books you can assume they are not deducting tax or NI on gross wages before paying you net earnings. ...

Which again would be the company's problem not the OPs.

LurkerTurnedPoster wrote: »

...
If the HMRC have a look they will see any payments going through your bank account by cheque...

HMRC don't have access to people's bank accounts.

antrobus

TDPIX wrote: »

...

How long ago did you start doing this? Since I think there's a time limit (with a possible fine for missing it) for registering as self employed.....

It's his first year. The fines for not registering as self-employed were abolished a couple of years ago.

tyllwyd

Before rushing to register as self-employed, have you looked to see if this could be declared as 'other income' on a self-assessment tax return and collected through your PAYE tax code?

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/non-paye-income.htm

But if you are self-employed, remember that you can claim allowable expenses against the income, so keep receipts and a record of exactly what money you pay out and what you receive. (To make your book keeping easier, it would probably be worth making sure that all the payments in and out go through an account that you only use for this purpose.) And remember to check your position for NI in your self-employed job - if you are earning under the threshold for NI in that job (which I would imagine you will be), you will probably want to ask for a small earnings exemption from class 2 NI.

antrobus

corky2 wrote: »

...In my spare time, I get paid £18 by a company for each blog I send in (I travel a lot so these are travel blogs)...

corky2 wrote: »

.. I have an employed job I just do this as a hobby, which I started this year and I turning out to be quite good at it. I am asking if this is an additional PAYE job or self employed as the company doesn't know which is a bit worrying.....

Depends on how much money you're talking about.

If it's only a few quid, it would be 'income from casual earnings'. Just stick the numbers in the 'Other UK income not included on supplementary pages' on your SA100 and HMRC will knock it off your tax code. Or write to them and tell them about it.

LurkerTurnedPoster

antrobus wrote: »

Just to put the OPs mind at rest...

I read on the HMRC website that you should tell them straight away if you do self employment work - it used to say ''within three months'' but has since been amended to straight away. There is much being said about book-keeping checks. Is any of that relevant?

If I started doing work for someone and asked them if I was paid PAYE or self-employed and the employer didn't even know, I'd find that worrying.

Being able to put work as "other income" sounds much more simpler.

corky2

Great - lots of great advice. I will start getting myself organised with HMRC now that I have a clear idea of what to do and a plan of action. What a relief.

Thanks all
Corky (I'm a girl btw!)