Survey sites and the taxman

Chuisle

I've been reading the Make Money Online guide on this site about survey sites. It says that if I make money off them then it counts as self-employment for tax purposes.

I signed up to YouGov an age ago and have very recently reached the number of points from surveys that entitles me to £50. I have not yet claimed this (mainly because I don't want to deal with the faff of telling them about bank accounts, etc.).

I do not currently have a job (I am living off a redundancy payment and am not claiming JSA), and have not earned any money this FY.

Do I have to register as self-employed to continue to do the surveys if I don't claim the £50?

System

I am registered as self-employed, according to the status department at HMRC if you are just joined up to the likes of YouGov (they actually said YouGov) then you don't need to register, it is when you're registering to numerous sites 'for commercial purposes' that you need to register as self-employed.

I make a few thousand a year, not enough to pay tax, but I declare it. If in doubt you can ring the tax office on the self-employment helpline and they will confirm to you whether you need to register or not. I did, but didn't need to in previous years when I wasn't doing many sites. Now I do LOTS so I am obviously working for myself and all of these different companies are paying me for my time/work.

Personally I wouldn't worry about £50 once or twice a year.

Chuisle

Phew, that's a relief!

Can't be doing with faff, so I think YouGov is going to be the first and last of this sort of site I sign up to.

gotmurked

I often see this subject brought up and would have thought that if you fall under the ridiculous (in my opinion) situation of all the fuss and performance of having to calculate and pay tax on survey earnings surely you would be entitled to claim back expenses up to a certain amount, for electricity and heating - and possibly the 'tools of your job' (laptop / desktop / tablet) if you're doing the surveys in your own home, as any earnings would be under the self-employed umbrella?