Private Music Teaching

nimdy

Hi all. I'd like to seek some advice on private music teaching. My girlfriend currently teaches music in a school, but would also like a little extra income by teaching piano in her free time. She says that if it takes off she would like to make it her sole income.

My worry is how she should start her venture. I have a few questions that I hope someone here can help answer:

Does this count as starting her own business, does she need to register as such?
Does it count as self-employed, even though she will continue her existing job for the foreseeable future?
How does she declare her earnings to the tax man?
What should she be keeping records of?

She has already got herself a student through word of mouth. I have suggested keeping a log of the lessons, money taken from them, and using a receipt duplicate book. Is this enough or should she be keeping more information for tax/earnings purposes?

Any advice will be welcomed.

Thanks.

Laurajo_2

Yep, she will need to register as self employed, and also for national insurance. She can get a small earnings exception if her earnings from the self employment are under 7.5k ish. You can have a self employed job alongside your existing job.

Hmrc will send out a tax return usually around 6 April which will need to be filed by 31 October if filing by paper or 31 January following the tax year end if filing on line.

On the tax return, she will enter her self employed income and expenses and her employment income and the tax deducted from this...plus any other income she might have (investment income etx). Hmrc will calculate the tax for you if you wish.

She is legally obliged to keep records and your system sounds ok. Maybe a spreadsheet with the lesson date, pupil and amount received would be a good idea. Also keep records of any expenses - repairs to her instruments, sheet music, advertising costs etc and also keep receipts for these.

Also, may need to look into public liability insurance too, but this isn't too expensive.

nickj_2

yes it is self emplyed
yes she does need to register ,
she can declare earnings thru self assessment
keep a record of all income and expenses
keep all receipts of any expenses and income
she needs to look into public liability insurance
if working from home you may need to inform your house insurance company
you can claim expenses of working from home , you can claim £4p/w without having to provide any proof



all the info you need is here

and good luck , i have 2-3 friends who are self employed musicians and work at schools and do private tuition as well , i guess their main problem is that the school provides them with pupils during term time but obviously holidays etc are unpaid although they do have a functions band which they do as well

nimdy

Thanks for your help. I'll have a look through the HMRC site.

Already suggested a spreadsheet to her. Logging customers, lessons, payments etc. Great what you can do with a good spreadsheet

googler

Nip over to the forum at ABRSM.org, to the 'teachers' sub-forum, and ask for further advice there.

Try to formulate some kind of promotional strategy.

Percy1983

Others have covered the basics, as said think about promotion, ie website, facebook etc.

nimdy

Thanks all. We'll get her set up with HMRC and add a few sheets to her spreadsheet. Website, facebook and business cards etc already done