Casual earnings as a writer and tax

hdh74

I make a small amount of money from writing. I have read that you need to declare casual earnings above £1000.

Does this apply if your other earnings are very small? I am way below my personal tax allowance.

Also, can anyone point me in the right direction for information on how to do this? Googling brought up information which seems to be more about side-hustles and selling which suggested you need to register as a sole trader. I wouldn't need to do that would I?

It also mentioned getting the forms in by January, but I thought the tax year ran until April, and I might not have earned £1000 by Janurary, but I might have by April.  Sorry, I'm finding this very confusing.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

hdh74 said:

I make a small amount of money from writing. I have read that you need to declare casual earnings above £1000.

Does this apply if your other earnings are very small? I am way below my personal tax allowance.

Also, can anyone point me in the right direction for information on how to do this? Googling brought up information which seems to be more about side-hustles and selling which suggested you need to register as a sole trader. I wouldn't need to do that would I?

It also mentioned getting the forms in by January, but I thought the tax year ran until April, and I might not have earned £1000 by Janurary, but I might have by April.  Sorry, I'm finding this very confusing.

It is the January after the end of each tax year.

Technically you only need to notify HMRC if you have some liability.

But some people register as self employed and for Self Assessment anyway as without doing that how do HMRC know if you are liable or not?

DE_612183

when you say your earnings are way below the personal tax allowance - are you really surviving on say £8,000 a year?

Bookworm105

"Casual" income is widely misunderstood

your activity is that of writer. You are doing so purely with the view of making a profit (income) whether on a recurring basis or not. That income classes as self employment (SE), not "casual". The £1,000 allowance covers SE income 

you can check for yourself if you need to do a tax return 
Check if you need to send a Self Assessment tax return - GOV.UK


your situation is the same as this tread 
Paying Tax when I am both Employed and Self-employed — MoneySavingExpert Forum

hdh74

DE_612183 said:

when you say your earnings are way below the personal tax allowance - are you really surviving on say £8,000 a year?

I don't live alone, but yes my income is less than that.

hdh74

Bookworm105 said:

"Casual" income is widely misunderstood

your activity is that of writer. You are doing so purely with the view of making a profit (income) whether on a recurring basis or not. That income classes as self employment (SE), not "casual". The £1,000 allowance covers SE income 

you can check for yourself if you need to do a tax return 
Check if you need to send a Self Assessment tax return - GOV.UK


your situation is the same as this tread 
Paying Tax when I am both Employed and Self-employed — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Bookworm105 said:

"Casual" income is widely misunderstood

your activity is that of writer. You are doing so purely with the view of making a profit (income) whether on a recurring basis or not. That income classes as self employment (SE), not "casual". The £1,000 allowance covers SE income 

you can check for yourself if you need to do a tax return 
Check if you need to send a Self Assessment tax return - GOV.UK


your situation is the same as this tread 
Paying Tax when I am both Employed and Self-employed — MoneySavingExpert Forum

That's really helpful. Thank you very much.

hdh74

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

hdh74 said:

I make a small amount of money from writing. I have read that you need to declare casual earnings above £1000.

Does this apply if your other earnings are very small? I am way below my personal tax allowance.

Also, can anyone point me in the right direction for information on how to do this? Googling brought up information which seems to be more about side-hustles and selling which suggested you need to register as a sole trader. I wouldn't need to do that would I?

It also mentioned getting the forms in by January, but I thought the tax year ran until April, and I might not have earned £1000 by Janurary, but I might have by April.  Sorry, I'm finding this very confusing.

It is the January after the end of each tax year.

Technically you only need to notify HMRC if you have some liability.

But some people register as self employed and for Self Assessment anyway as without doing that how do HMRC know if you are liable or not?

Also very helpful. thank you. 

LITRG

Hello. We are the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG), part of the Chartered Institute of Taxation who are an educational charity. We are not part of HMRC or MSE. Although we can’t give individual advice, you might find our website information about whether you need to fill out a tax return if there is nothing to pay, helpful: https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-nic/how-tax-collected/self-assessment-and-tax-returns/who-has-complete-tax-return. If you require further help, we recommend that you contact a tax adviser, HMRC or one of the tax charities where relevant. You can find more information about where to get help with tax here: https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-nic/getting-help-tax. Thanks.

hdh74

LITRG said:

Hello. We are the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG), part of the Chartered Institute of Taxation who are an educational charity. We are not part of HMRC or MSE. Although we can’t give individual advice, you might find our website information about whether you need to fill out a tax return if there is nothing to pay, helpful: https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-nic/how-tax-collected/self-assessment-and-tax-returns/who-has-complete-tax-return. If you require further help, we recommend that you contact a tax adviser, HMRC or one of the tax charities where relevant. You can find more information about where to get help with tax here: https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-nic/getting-help-tax. Thanks.

Brilliant.  Thank you. There is so much useful info there. Oh, the joy of plain English!