Is your side hustle liable for tax?
As the summer wedding season gets into full swing, the taxman is reminding anyone earning extra income from activities like selling stationery, filming the first dance or cake-making, that they will need to tell HMRC if they earn more than £1,000.
HMRC’s ‘Help for Hustles’ campaign has been launched to help so-called side hustlers get their tax right, quickly and easily – whether that’s wedding suppliers, parents earning from a hobby business or content creators making money from posting about the latest trends online.
Kevin Hubbard, HMRC’s director of small business and individuals, said: “For many people, a side hustle is a valuable source of extra income.
“If you’re earning more than £1,000 a year from your side hustle it’s important to understand your tax responsibilities, and HMRC wants to make that as straightforward as possible.
“You can check if you need to do a Self Assessment tax return by using the tool on GOV.UK. It takes minutes to use, tells you exactly what you need to do and means no unexpected tax bills later.”
If someone has earned more than £1,000 from their side hustle in a tax year, they may need to complete a Self Assessment tax return.
They can use the ‘Where is your additional income from?’ tool on GOV.UK. It takes a few minutes to complete and, if a tax return is required, it will explain how to register.
New entrants to Self Assessment should register for the 2025 to 2026 tax year by October 5, 2026.They must file their online tax return and pay any tax due by January 31, 2027.
The £1,000 threshold covers all side hustle income combined – so someone earning £600 from wedding photography and £500 from social media posts would need to register as their total exceeds £1,000.
Not all extra income is taxable. Selling unwanted personal belongings – such as clearing out a wardrobe – does not usually need to be reported to HMRC.
But regularly selling goods for profit, or providing a service for payment, is likely to count as trading and may need to be declared.
- To discuss any issues raised by this article please contact me on 01772 430000
