Tax on honorarium payment?

sweaty_betty

Hi there - hoping that someone can shed some light on this please.

I'm employed part time. I've agreed to do 6 days of voluntary work for an organisation, who will pay me an honorarium of XX per day. I will be taking these days as unpaid leave from my employer.

Employer is happy for me for me to do this voluntary work.

Is the honorarium taxable? I don't mind if it is, but I just want to ensure that I don't fall foul of the tax system by not declaring it if I should.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

00ec25

the charity is paying you a round sum amount per day, it is not reimbursing actual out of pocket expenses (eg travel) that you incurred.

as such the payment is taxable income for you

whether the organisation (charity?) should actually pay it through PAYE on their own payroll system is another matter (I think they should, even if you are a "volunteer" not a contracted employee)

sweaty_betty

00ec25 wrote: »

the charity is paying you a round sum amount per day, it is not reimbursing actual out of pocket expenses (eg travel) that you incurred.

as such the payment is taxable income for you

whether the organisation (charity?) should actually pay it through PAYE on their own payroll system is another matter (I think they should, even if you are a "volunteer" not a contracted employee)

Hi there - thanks for your reply, that's what I thought.
Will I need to complete a tax return to declare it? I was hoping to avoid going down that route, but not sure how else I could do it.

As I'm taking unpaid leave to cover the days I'm volunteering, I'm hoping it won't impact my total income too much (honorarium is less than my daily rate after tax).

00ec25

"You must also fill in a tax return if your untaxed income is over £2,500, or contact the Income Tax helpline if it’s less than £2,500."

https://www.gov.uk/income-tax/how-you-pay-income-tax

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/income-tax-enquiries-for-individuals-pensioners-and-employees