Tax on exam marking for a professional body

littlemissmoney

Hi. I have a PAYE job. In addition, last year I did some exam marking for a professional body. I invoiced them and they paid me gross (just over £2k).

In order to pay the tax, should I register for self assessment (as a sole trader?)? Can I use the £1k trading allowance? Or do I just tell HMRC and owe tax on the whole amount?

Please help. I am getting so confused reading the HMRC website!

Bookworm105

as you state "professional body" it implies you do not fall within these categories and therefore your activity is one of self employment
ESM4151 - Particular occupations: examiners - status - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UK

therefore, you would be eligible for the trading allowance and as such if your gross income is >£1,000 then you mist register as self employed and complete a tax return on the basis of
either: gross income - 1,000 allowance = taxable profit
or: gross income - actual allowable expenses = taxable profit

these may help 
Self-employment: registering for tax and NIC | Low Incomes Tax Reform Group

Business expenses: allowable for tax | Low Incomes Tax Reform Group

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 free self employment guide which covers setting up as a sole trader and how to complete a tax return useful: https://www.litrg.org.uk/working/self-employment/self-employment-guide. 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.