Declaring Babysitting

[TaxQuestions01]

Hi all, quick tax query for you experts.

I used to be a nanny but have since given up work as we are financially okay. I don't have any dependents.

Previous families (well, friends really) still occasionally ask if I can babysit, and I would like to help them out. The odd bit of extra income would be nice around Christmas etc too. I don't want to do anymore than the odd evening a month, and don't want to go above the tax/NI threshold, but I'm wondering how I work this with HMRC.

Do I need to declare the income if it never goes over the threshold, or do I need to register as self employed?

If I do need to register as self employed, what does it involve? There won't be any expenses to declare, but what would realistically be involved? If it's going to be a lot of effort then I'll just carry on as we are now and not take any babysitting on I think.

Starting a business now, you would not have your first self assessment until April 2016 and not payable until Jan 2018. You should register as soon as possible.

If you were working as a nanny in April, then this financial year you will have had income from employment and self employment. The total of that income may end up being below the taxable amount, so you may have had tax deducted from your nanny work which you can get back (I would guess that you have been taxed on your income from employment so far based on using 1/12th of personal tax allowance per month).

I would keep a record of your turnover and expenses using . You will have some expenses - a cash accounting book for record keeping (costs around £10) and you may have some small advertising cost (business cards).

From April 2017 (I think) we all get a allowance for small earnings but this year we don't. Not sure what happens when this new allowance starts.

Start by researching as you are doing now. This is a
useful book about Small Business Accounting

Why don't you do the babysit and just accept cash, I doubt if anyone will find out.
I know you aren't supposed to but surely if it's a very odd night it's fine.