Declaring 'home work'

Kaz1967

I work in the NHS as a secretary (earning £16k pa). My consultant has asked me if I would do some extra work from home typing reports and he will pay me. It will amount to about one report a month (not every month) and I would get around £90-£100 for each report which I would receive in the post. Do I have to declare this to the tax man? This is all new to me and I don't where to even start declaring it. Thanks

soolin

All income needs to be declared. If you are receiving payments direct with no tax deducted then you can declare this extra as self employed/consultancy income and deduct any relevant and appropriate expenses before working out what tax needs to be paid.

At the rate you suggest you will be doing this work it seems unlikely that you will have to pay any Class 2 National insurance contributions, so it is only tax you need to be concerned about.

Murdina

More specifically, if you are not already completing SA returns (which I expect you are not) you should write and tell HMRC about your new source of income within 6 months of the end of the first tax year it happens. They may just code it in against your employment income, or they may issue an SA return. Make it clear it is just a series of small one offs and not a regular self-employment. Alternatively, you can register as self-employed, which you have to do within 3 months of starting, and claim the small earnings exemption from class 2 national insurance.