Need advice for work on the side

chrissp26

Hello,

I'm a permanently employed web designer and i'm quite happy within my current role.

One of my friends who owns his own business approached me and asked if I could do some work for him for a site he is currently working on. I've now completed the work to the tune of £500.

Obviously its not very much, but the client we did the work for has come back and would like me to do some more work. If this is going to become a regular thing then I may consider registering my own business but until I get to the point of earning enough to justify doing that I wondered if I can declare the money I earn on the side i.e. through an online form, so that it can be taxed without having to worry about HMRC knocking on my door asking for a large sum of money.

I would appreciate any advice any of you could give regarding this as I am a little apprehensive about receiving the money and then getting caught by the taxman.

Kindest regards

Chris

Zazen999

Hi

As soon as you do the work, you have a certain amount of time [3 months] to register as self employed with the tax office - you can't wait until you decide whether it is worth it or not, you need to register. You can be self employed as well as being fully employed by another company.

I would suggest looking at the first few pages of the mystery shopping thread on here; there's loads of good advice.

I'd do as much as possible as a self employed person; who knows in a year or 2 you might be able to leave the current job and run the business 100% for yourself.

Just don't get into trouble with the taxman, it's best to register and proceed with a clear head.

spanishfly15

if you are not actually self employed but instead are receiving untaxed income for work that you are carrying out for someone else and if the total amount you receive is less than £2500 in each financial year then you can choose to have any tax you owe on this income collected via a restriction of your personal allowances in your tax code.

Simply phone or write to HMRC, inform them of the annual gross amount you are receiving and ask if they can include it in your tax code number. You will be required to complete form P810 after the end of each tax year to state the actual amount of untaxed income you received. if it is more than your estimate then you will be asked to pay the extra, similarly if it is less then you will receive a refund if too much tax has been paid on this income.

Please note that if your untaxed income exceeds £2500 then you will be required to complete a Self-Assessment tax return form.

chrissp26

Thanks for the replies. I think I shall look into setting myself up as self employed.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer my query

Kindest regards

chris