HMRC confirms full list of legal side hustles you must declare and those you don’t

Online selling and tutoring, delivery work, dog walking, and content creation are all ways of earning extra money – but what are the i

HMRC has shared which side hustles you must declare for tax purposes, and which you do not need to declare.

If you are an employee in a workplace, you generally don’t need to worry about whether you are paying the right amount of tax, as this gets worked out for you.

But for those who are self-employed, or those who have a full-time job but have another way of making money – known as a side hustle – it can get a little bit more complicated.

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The general rule of thumb when it comes to declaring extra earnings from any side hustle to HMRC is if you earn less than £1,000 from services or trading, you do not need to declare it.

But for those who have earnt more than £1,000 on top of your main job in the last tax year – which runs from April 6 to April 5 – they will need to declare this to the Government to ensure that they are paying the correct amount of tax.

HMRC’s dedicated side hustle advice page warns: “Made more than £1,000 from your side hustles? Whether you get cash in hand or money paid straight to your bank account, you’ll need to tell HMRC so you can avoid any tax surprises.”

For those who have exceeded the £1,000 limit, you will need to register as a sole trader. Once registered, you declare your profits and losses through the GOV.UK Self Assessment system.

You can check if you need to declare your side-hustle earnings by using this gov.uk questionnaire.

If you earn more than £1,000 from the following side hustles, you MUST declare it to HMRC

• Online selling or reselling
• Content creation
• Freelance work
• Gig economy services
• Domestic services
• Renting equipment

If you earn less than £1,000 from the following side hustles, you do not need to declare it to HMRC

• Selling personal items, such as clearing out your wardrobe
• Casual favours
• Betting and gambling
• Bank switching